A Remembrance Day ceremony in Wainwright, Alta., will honour four soldiers who died in a training-exercise fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
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WAINWRIGHT, Alta. — A Remembrance Day ceremony in Wainwright will include tributes to four soldiers who were killed in a fire during a training exercise at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
The four who died in the blaze are Pte. Shaun Farrell, 23, of Prince Albert, Sask.; Pte. Aidan Goulding, 23, of North Vancouver; Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, B.C.; and Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton.
The fire broke out after a strong wind sent flames from a grass fire racing onto troops at the base on Oct. 17, southeast of Edmonton. Thirty-nine others were injured, and many of those injured were still recovering in hospital.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to attend the ceremony along with other dignitaries, military members and veterans. Mayor Bruce Pugh said Wainwright’s annual Remembrance Day service is expected to be the most solemn one in its recent history.
“It will be different this year just with the weight of what happened,” Pugh said. “I think it’s a reminder of that willingness and that sacrifice that never stops.”
Investigations are under way to determine what happened during the incident. Prime Minister Mark Carney called it one of the worst tragedies for the Armed Forces on Canadian soil during peacetime.
Roughly 84 soldiers with the Charlie Company unit of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were taking part in attack training when the military says the fast-moving fire effectively landed on top of them.
The military said about 300 members of the regiment are also set to attend a Remembrance Day service in St. Albert, a community northwest of Edmonton, where they are to march in a parade to the city’s cenotaph, along with a memorial Air Force flypast.
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