The Calgary Cenotaph in Central Memorial Park saw a new addition on Sunday morning. A ceremony was held to unveil a plaque honouring the 40,000 Canadian soldiers who served in the Afghanistan war from 2001-2014. “The plaque is more than simply a piece of metal. The plaque is a promise, a promise that we’ll remember. A promise that we recognize the service and sacrifices made by those who served in Afghanistan,” said Calgary Salutes Vice-Chair John Tyrrell. “My encouragement to you is that when you bring your children by, when I bring my grandchildren by and we see this monument, that we tell them the story,” added Padre Ken Nettleton, Chaplain for 41 Canadian Brigade Group. A total of 158 Canadians died while serving, and of those, 14 were Calgarian. “These were people of my generation. They should be growing older with us, raising families, building careers, helping build the Canada we all love. Instead, their names are carved into memorials, and the future that they gave up is now our responsibility to build,” said Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas. “Many people in our community remember some of those names, remember those folks, and their families still live in Calgary. This is an opportunity for us to honour and remember them, and honour their families at the same time,” added DJ Kelly, Chair of Calgary Salutes and City Councillor. The ceremony featured performances from the King’s Own Calgary Regiment Band, community leaders like Farkas and Kelly giving speeches, and Calgary Salutes and the Royal Canadian Legion showing a strong presence. Numerous veterans, alongside several family members of fallen soldiers, were also in attendance. “Calgarians have a proud military tradition and a tradition of remembrance, which we must continue so that people, generations in the future, understand the sacrifices that have been made so that they can have the quality of life and the freedoms that they enjoy,” Tyrell said. Farkas remembered one fallen soldier he had a personal connection with: Corporal Nathan Hornburg. Hornburg and Farkas both attended Bishop Carrol High School, and Farkas says Hornburg enlisted the same year he started. “He helped fight forest fires in British Columbia before deploying to Afghanistan, and on September 24, 2007, Nathan was killed in action while helping recover a disabled tank. He was 24 years old. He should have had decades ahead of him a career, a family, a lifetime of possibilities, and his family never got those years with him,” Farkas said. “We honour their sacrifice by building a Canada worthy of it. A Canada that stands strong alongside our allies. A Canada that defends freedom and democracy,” he continued. The cenotaph stands as a monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, making the addition of the Afghanistan soldiers an important one, and one that was “long overdue,” according to Tyrrell. “This is about bringing everybody together to give us a place to be able to remember. It’s one thing to read about it in a book or on a website, but to be able to come together, experience this in person, to be able to see the wars that are dedicated on this particular cenotaph, including now Afghanistan as well. It gives us an opportunity to all come by and to take the time to remember the service and sacrifice that those from Calgary and across the country who gave their lives to preserve our freedom and values,” Kelly said. “It’s not just about the plaque. It’s about making sure that those stories will never, ever be forgotten here in our city, in our province, in our country,” Farkas added.
