Hundreds gathered in Wainwright, Alta., for a Remembrance Day ceremony that included a moment of silence for four soldiers killed in the Oct. 17 fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
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Hundreds attended a Remembrance Day ceremony in Wainwright, Alta., where participants paused for a moment of silence to remember those who served and died.
In a Wednesday service at the town southeast of Edmonton, Rev. Mokwadi Basele of Grace United Church led the ceremony’s prayer, with his comments focused on the four soldiers killed in a wind-propelled grass fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright more than three weeks earlier, and on others still in hospital with severe burns.
Basele said he and others gathered “to remember the tragedy that befell this small town,” and asked that those injured continue to recover, alongside “comrades from the base and friends who live with shock and grief.”
The four who died in the Oct. 17 blaze were honoured at remembrance events across Alberta and Canada: 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.
A few blocks from the Peace Memorial Multiplex, some residents left flowers and wreaths at a historic, century-old fieldstone tower commemorating Canadians who died in the First and Second World Wars.
About 84 soldiers with Charlie Company 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, while 39 others were injured.
The military said last week that 25 people were still recovering in hospital, according to the ceremony’s coverage.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended the Wainwright ceremony, and said the injured included people with “third-degree burns on 80 to 90 per cent” of their bodies.
Northwest of Edmonton, at least 2,000 people lined a road leading to the St. Albert Cenotaph, and roughly 300 members of the same regiment marched there; Farrell’s family was also there and laid a wreath in his honour.
Prime Minister Mark Carney honoured those from Wainwright at a ceremony in Ottawa, describing the base fire as one of the worst peacetime tragedies for the Armed Forces on Canadian soil.
Three investigations are looking into what happened, and the service in Ottawa included a benediction by Rabbi Idan Scher.
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