Hundreds gathered at Wainwright’s Peace Memorial Multiplex for Remembrance Day prayers and tributes to four soldiers killed in an Oct. 17 wind-propelled grass fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
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WAINWRIGHT — Hundreds of people packed Wainwright’s Peace Memorial Multiplex for Remembrance Day ceremonies that honoured four soldiers killed more than three weeks earlier in a wind-propelled grass fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
At Wednesday’s service, Rev. Mokwadi Basele of Grace United Church led the crowd in prayer, speaking about the “tragedy that befell this small town” and urging support for the many others still recovering from severe burns.
The four who died were Pte. Shaun Farrell, 23, of Prince Albert, Sask.; Pte. Aidan Goulding, 23, of North Vancouver, B.C.; Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, B.C.; and Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton. Across Alberta and Canada, the four were also marked at separate ceremonies.
A short distance from the Peace Memorial Multiplex, some residents left flowers and wreaths at the base of a historic, century-old fieldstone tower commemorating Canadians who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Local veteran Sean Hansen said the day feels different this year because of the fire, adding that “unfortunately, some paid with their lives and some are horribly scarred.”
According to the military, about 84 soldiers with the Charlie Company unit of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were taking part in attack training on Oct. 17 when a windstorm shot flames from a grass fire onto the troops. In total, 39 others were injured.
The military said that as of last week, 25 were still recovering in hospital.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who attended the Wainwright ceremony and represents the Battle River-Crowfoot riding that includes the base, said the injured soldiers “literally ran into balls of fire to save their brothers and sisters in arms.” He referenced what he described as “third-degree burns on 80 to 90 per cent of their bodies.”
Northwest of Edmonton, at least 2,000 lined a road leading to the St. Albert Cenotaph, and roughly 300 members of the same regiment caught in the Wainwright fire marched to the site. Farrell’s family was also there and laid a wreath in his honour.
Rev. Ken MacRae, a retired Armed Forces chaplain, told the crowd that even if people “may not know much” about the lives of the recently killed and injured, they still “lived and breathed among us,” and he said the names of the four will be added to cenotaphs and memorial sites across the country.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking at a ceremony in Ottawa, also honoured those killed and called the deadly fire one of the worst tragedies for the Armed Forces on Canadian soil during peacetime.
Rabbi Idan Scher gave the benediction at the Ottawa service, saying Canadians united after the fire through acts such as donating blood, preparing meals and opening homes to care for the injured. In Wainwright, the service included prayers for those still healing in hospitals and at home.
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