Battalion Park
On November 11th each year, several thousand Calgarians gather for Remembrance Day ceremonies at Battalion Park. The history of the park is outlined for everyone in attendance, however for those not having the opportunity to attend an event at the park, or is new to our city, I wanted to explain the significance of the 16,000 whitewashed stones arranged on the side of Signal Hill.
The Canadian Militia leased the land in the summer of 1914 from the Sarcee Indian Reserve to establish a training site for 45,000 military personnel assigned to fight in World War 1. This was the largest training establishment in Canada during wartime with 30 various units from different parts of Alberta. The various Battalions trained at the Sarcee camp from December 1915 to October 1916 and then were assigned to war regions to fight WW1. As part of their training, soldiers hauled in sacks by hand, stones from the Elbow River and carried them over two kilometres to the site of the camp creating the battalion numerals representing their units.
The stones forming the numerals 137, 151 and 51 are in a cluster that were moved from the original position because of erosion and development, but 113 is a bit further away, undisturbed, in its original location.
Battalion Park officially opened in November 1991 commemorating the many military personnel that trained there.
On Remembrance Day 2019, it was my honor and privilege, once again, as your representative in Parliament, to place a wreath at Battalion Park. It is important to recognize the contributions that our soldiers have made to preserve the freedom that we enjoy and those serving in Canada’s Armed Forces today. To do so at this site, a proud piece of history in Calgary Signal Hill, and share the experience with so many Calgarians is always one of the highlights of my year as your representative.
As we go forward into 2020, I know there are many issues that concern Albertans today, but we also need to recognize how fortunate we are due to the sacrifices made by others.
Happy New Year.
