Scouts honour those laid to rest

Almost a dozen boys and girls paid homage to military men and women who are laid to rest in a cemetery northwest of Black Diamond.

Scouts and Ventures with the First Oilfields Scouts group replaced weather-worn poppies and Canadian flags with new ones on dozens of headstones in the Foothills Cemetery Oct. 22.

The headstones are dedicated to those who served their country in war and on peacekeeping missions.

The Legion has been a sponsor of the First Oilfields Scouts for well over 80 years.

“It’s about honouring the veterans that have given us this life we have,” said scouter James Tucker. “It’s pretty special to have people willing to lay down their life. It’s the least we can do to honour them.”

Replacing the poppies and flags on the headstones before Remembrance Day has become a tradition for the local scouts and ventures.

Tucker said the youths are given a guideline for where the poppies and flags go if a headstone is missing one.

He said the boys and girls who participate are 11 to 18-years-old.

“It’s good for the kids because they get a good sense of community and they understand more what veterans do and why we honour them and what Remembrance Day is all about,” he said. “It puts a name to our local people that have given their lives or who have gone overseas and served.”

In addition to the scouts and ventures’ work, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Turner Valley branch will speak to the youngsters about the importance of honouring these brave men and women who have passed.

Legion member Syd Barker, a native Turner Valley resident who served about 20 years with the army and navy, spoke to the scouts, ventures and their leaders last month.

“It’s important to ensure that the younger generation understands exactly what Remembrance Day is and that military personnel who are in the cemetery are regarded throughout the years,” he said.

“I have served my time in the military and now have been retired for a number of years and we try to have people understand the reason that the cemetery is looked after as it’s something that’s within the military itself all over the world.”

Barker said he’s been looking after the cemetery since retiring from the military in the 1960s.

“We of the legion go out there and ensure that nothing is removed and that everything is the way it should be,” he said.

“I go out there almost every time I go from here in Turner Valley to Black Diamond. It’s at least once or twice a week.”