Swift Current Museum unveils new banners to honour veterans during Remembrance Day period
Several new banners in honour of veterans are part of the banner display in and around Memorial Park in Swift Current during this year’s Remembrance Day period.
The official unveiling of 10 new banners as part of the Swift Current Museum’s Honour our Veterans Banner Program took place at the museum, Oct. 24.
City General Manager of Cultural and Aquatic Services Melissa Shaw emceed the event and presented details about the 10 veterans being honoured through the program.
“It’s an honour for us to do this every year,” she said afterwards. “We’re quite excited with this inductee class of 10 that brings us to 59 banners that we’ve been able to put in the park. It’s really important to honour the veterans of Swift Current and area.”
The Swift Current Museum began the banner program in 2016 to give recognition to veterans in a meaningful and public way.
The double-sided, full colour banners can be sponsored by family, friends or local businesses. The details on each banner include the name and photograph of the person being honoured, the war or era when they served, their branch of service, and the name of the sponsor.
Banners are displayed at Memorial Park for three consecutive years during the annual Remembrance Day period, and thereafter it will be returned to a sponsor as a keepsake.
The number of new banners added to the program will vary from year to year. There were four new banners in 2022 and this year’s addition of 10 new banners is a large number for a single year.
“We saw quite a bit of interest come in after last year, when we did the induction and put up the banners,” she said. “But we didn’t do any increased marketing or any big push. I think word of mouth and success of the program down in Memorial Park has really helped us.”
She noted that families of veterans are excited to participate in the program. Banner sponsors are requested to provide details about a veteran’s service as part of a submission. In many cases it results in a bit of an ancestry dig for families to collect information about a veteran.
“We find that in lots of cases the families maybe don’t know as much about the history of their loved one who fought, especially in World War One and World War Two,” she said. “It’s not always something that the veterans like to talk about. It helps give those family members a little bit more of the story that they didn’t know growing up. So definitely special for the family members and we feel incredibly honoured that they trust us to share that story with us.”
Mayor Al Bridal brought greetings on behalf of the City of Swift Current during the unveiling ceremony. He noted the banner program leaves a legacy that ensures future generations can become educated about and deepen their respect for the brave contributions made by these veterans.
“When we attend Remembrance Day ceremonies, it’s quite something to look up at the lamp posts in Memorial Park with these veteran banners displayed,” he said. “It really hits
home that the conflicts in this world, both past and present, affect all of us and we’re very grateful for the sacrifices made by our veterans.”
Two of the new veteran banners honour soldiers from the First World War and seven banners are for veterans from the Second World War. One banner is for a veteran from the Cold War period.
David Gordon McCuaig, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an instrument electrical technician from 1968 to 1977, attended the banner unveiling ceremony with his family.
“My job was basically checking all of the instrumentation in an aircraft and all the electrical wires,” he said afterwards. “That was basically all the electrical equipment, alternators, and generators on the engines that
ran the aircraft.”
His role was a critical part of the ground crew activity for military aircraft and he also accompanied airplanes to different locations.
“Depending on where the aircraft was going, we would go with and we would set up there so that we could monitor it,” he said. “Before the pilot could take off, we had to verify that the aircraft was good to go.”
He was born in August 1950 at Rosetown and his family lived in three different Saskatchewan communities before he graduated at Maple Creek High School in 1968. He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the RCAF, starting at the recruitment centre in Swift Current and thereafter entering the service in Regina on Dec. 2, 1968.
He training at Canadian Forces base (CFB) Cornwallis in Nova Scotia, where the photo on his banner was taken. Thereafter he completed his trades training in Ontario at CFB Clinton and CFB Borden.
His first posting was to CFB Moose Jaw, which was a pilot training base at the time. He worked on the Canadair CT-114 Tutor, which was the standard jet trainer for Canadian fighter pilots.
His next posting was to CFB Shearwater in Nova Scotia to work on the twin- engine Grumman CP-121 Tracker aircraft.
“This was during the Cold War era and their main job was monitoring ships and looking for submarines,” he said. “They dropped some equipment in the water and tracked them. completed his basic
They were able to fit camera equipment on this aircraft’s wing, which made it possible to photograph ships along the Canadian coast.
His next posting was to CFB Edmonton, where he remained until the end of his service in 1977. He worked on single and twin- engine Otter aircraft used for search and rescue missions in western Canada and Northwest Territories.
He sometimes worked under challenging conditions, for example during a trip to Resolute Bay the ground crew had to change an engine on a twinengine Otter in a tent while the outside temperature was below minus 50 degrees Celsius.
One of the most dangerous moments during his service actually occurred during an unplanned night-time landing at the Swift Current airport. They were flying from Edmonton to Moose Jaw in a single-engine Otter, when freezing rain and a lack of anti-ice protection on the aircraft forced them to land.
Cyril John James, Second World War:
He was born on Sept. 6, 1916 in the Highfield district and attended Fox Valley and Waldeck schools. He joined the Canadian Active Service Force in Montreal in June 1940 and received training with the Royal Canadian Artillery at Petawawa in Ontario. He left with the 14th Field Regiment for England in July 1941. He landed on Bay De Sur in France during the Allied invasion of Europe. He was a qualified signaller and laid telephone lines. He was taken prisoner for a day by
German soldiers and later wrote an account of his capture for the history book of the 14th Field Regiment. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service medal and clasp. He became a chartered accountant in Calgary and Edmonton after the war and died on April 7, 1989 at the age of 72.
Ralph Liewellyn James, Second World War:
He was born on Sept. 21, 1922 and attended Fox Valley School. He joined the Army in 1940 at age 18 and trained in Maple Creek and Regina.
He went to England with the Fort Gary Horse Regiment from Winnipeg. He was in the tank corps and saw action in Holland and Germany. He was among the troops that remained in Europe after the war to assist with rebuilding efforts. He arrived back in Canada via New York harbour in January 1946 on the Queen Elizabeth, which transported thousands of returning soldiers. He farmed in the Waldeck area and returned to Holland for the 50th anniversary of the Second World War. He passed away on Jan. 6, 2011.
Charles Low, Second World War:
He was born on Sept. 12, 1922 in the Ruthilda district in Saskatchewan. He enlisted in the Army at age 18 and did basic training in Prince Albert. He was assigned to the Regina Rifles and served in the Netherlands during the war. He initially lived in Moose Jaw after the war, but moved to Swift Current in 1959. He worked in sales and owned his own business, Swift Sewing Centre. He was a proud Legion member until his passing in 1993.
Albert James Piercey, Second World War:
He was born on Sept. 16, 1918 in Swift Current. He enlisted at the age of 22 and completed basic training in Ontario. He was shipped overseas with the Canadian Artillery Regiment. He fought in France, Italy, Holland and Germany. He was one of the Canadian soldiers at the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at BergenBelsen. He found a barely alive little girl underneath a dead woman and carried her to the Red Cross truck. He always wondered what became of her. He only spoke about a few of his war memories, because he always said he just wanted to forget what he saw and went through.
Alex Wilkie, First World War:
He was born on June 22, 1986 in Scotland. He was called to war in January 1918 and he reported to Regina. He joined the Army and he was in active service in France by March 1918. He returned after the war to work on the family farm. He died on March 19, 1978.