A Remembrance Day service in Wainwright, Alta., honoured four soldiers killed in an Oct. 17 blaze at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright and others still recovering from severe burns.
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Hundreds gathered in a hockey arena in Wainwright, Alta., for a Remembrance Day ceremony that marked the deaths of four soldiers and recognized the continued recovery of others hurt in a training accident at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
At the Wednesday service, Rev. Mokwadi Basele of Grace United Church led those in attendance in prayer and said the community had come “closer to home” to remember the tragedy, while also lifting up those injured and still healing in hospital and at home.
The four who died in the Oct. 17 blaze 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.
The ceremony came after an attack training exercise with about 84 soldiers from Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, when a windstorm carried flames from a grass fire onto the troops.
Injuries were reported for 39 others, and the military said that as of last week, 25 were still recovering in hospital.
Wreaths and flowers were left a few blocks away at the Peace Memorial Multiplex, at the base of a historic, century-old fieldstone tower commemorating Canadians who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Wainwright resident Reimer Nielsen said the day is “a little more sombre and more important to be here for the four,” and veteran Sean Hansen said the remembrance feels different this year because the fire left some killed and others “horribly scarred.”
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended the Wainwright ceremony and said Canadians reflect on the courage of those involved, while noting that survivors were facing extensive injuries.
In a separate ceremony northwest of Edmonton at the St. Albert Cenotaph, roughly 2,000 people lined a road leading to the war memorial for local soldiers who died in combat, and about 300 members of the same regiment marched to the site.
Rev. Ken MacRae, a retired Armed Forces chaplain, told the crowd that while people may not know the recently killed and injured “much,” each still “lived and breathed among us,” and said the names of the four killed in Wainwright are to be added to some cenotaphs and memorial sites across the country.
Prime Minister Mark Carney honoured those in Wainwright at a ceremony in Ottawa and called the deadly fire one of the worst Armed Forces tragedies for the country during peacetime.
The federal government said three investigations are looking into what happened, and at the Ottawa service, Rabbi Idan Scher said Canadians united after the fire, including by donating blood, preparing meals for emergency crews, and supporting the injured.
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