Globemaster to miss Remembrance Day flyover

REGULAR CEREMONIES TO TAKE PLACE AT EXHIBITION PAVILION, CENOTAPH

Lethbridge’s annual Remembrance Day observations will be missing one large piece this year.

A scheduled flyover by the Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 Globemaster of the 429 (Bison) Squadron has been cancelled due to a change in operational requirements.

Al other Remembrance Day ceremonies are scheduled to go ahead as planned on Saturday.

The public is invited to attend the following Remembrance Day ceremonies: 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Lethbridge Exhibition Park (South Pavilion); and noon-12:30 p.m.at the Cenotaph outside city hall.

This year’s Cenotaph ceremony will feature the official unveiling of a monument honouring the enduring friendship between 429 Squadron and the City of Lethbridge, based on the adoption of the Squadron by the city in 1944.

City council recently approved placing the monument on the north side of city hall, adjacent to the Cenotaph.

The 429 (Bison) Squadron has a long and distinguished history, beginning in 1942 as a strategic aviation resource of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The squadron was adopted by the city in 1944 while it was deployed in England during the Second World War.

In 2008, the squadron was reunited with the city and granted “Freedom of the Sky.”

Lethbridge residents followed the successes of their adopted squadron through the pages of the Lethbridge Herald. They also sent care packages containing needed items such as cigarettes.

The squadron presented a trophy to the city which is displayed in the Lethbridge Military Museum.

During the course of the war, the squadron was equipped with Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster aircraft.

Members of the squadron were awarded 45 Distinguished Flying Crosses as well as other honours, and the squadron itself received 10 Second World War Battle Honours.

After the war ended, the squadron remained in Europe conducting Prisoner of War repatriation duties until being disbanded in Leeming, England, on May 31, 1946. Known as the “Bisons” the squadron’s motto was “fortnae nihil” or “nothing to chance.”

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