Other

The Great War Memorial Hall was built to commemorate Strathmore's fallen in the First World War. It was funded through public funds, a $2,000 grant from the Municipal District of Bow Valley and a $500 donation from the town of Strathmore. Mayor G. F. Butler and Frank Skene, reeve of the Municipal District of Bow Valley, were the first to turn the sod on May 21, 1921. The hall was opened on July 11, 1922.

On June 6, 1986, a small civilian aircraft with Kenneth Wolff pilot and passenger Orvall Pall, a well respected wildlife biologist crashed in the area of the Kananaskis Valley of BC. Later the same day on June 6, Hayden Evans, Rod Harradence and Bruce Pratt, friends of the missing aircraft crew lost their lives searching for the lost aircraft. Their small Cessna aircraft was located the same day crashed into the Northeast face of Mount Lougheed.  

On June 14, 1986, Rescue 807, a Royal Canadian Air Force Twin Otter from 418 Squadron Edmonton arrived on-scene in the Kananaskis Valley to begin its search for the missing aircraft with pilot Kenneth Wolff and passenger Orvall Pall on board. The RCAF aircrew members on board the Twin Otter were Captain Wayne Plumbtree, Captain Ted Kates and Sergeant Brian Burkitt, and five civilian Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) spotters, Carl Grant, David Hall, Patricia MacLean, Charles Masur and Jerome Schindler. 

Captains Plumbtree and Kates were tasked to search in a mountainous area , and soon after, the unthinkable happened. Their aircraft flew into a large rock outcrop. All eight people on board died in the crash. A subsequent investigation showed that the pilots were most likely fooled by light conditions that visually blended a mountain outcrop into the mountainside behind it. They did not see the outcrop until it was too late. 

On July 18, 1986, the wreckage of the aircraft carrying Kenneth Wolff and Orvall Pall, was located just below Guinn’s Pass in southern Alberta. 

https://kananaskistrails.com/trailfinder/displaytrail.php?id=202

http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=thirty-years-ago-this-month-remembering-rescue-807-crash-victims/iqdipgl3http://www.rcaf-

On February 5, 2015, Sergeant Mark Salesse was taking part in a military training exercise with three other members of the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron in an ice climbing area in Banff National Park known as the Polar Circus when he was caught in an avalanche. 

Painted by local artist Robyn Cooper of Airdrie.  Dedicated in memory of the service of women in World War II.  Images of the following Corps:  Canadian Women's Army Corps, Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (Wrens), RCAF (WD) and Nursing Sisters.

Sixteen Fallen Heroes Foundation Plaques dedicated to Airdrie, Balzac, Beddington and Casa Loma districts fallen from World War One and World War Two.  There are five (5) World War One plaques, ten (10) World War Two plaques and one plaque for the Unknown Soldier.  Dedicated in 2006.

The Airdrie LAV III monument commermorates those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. It recognizes all the men and woman whose lives have been changed forever by their dedicated service, both to there country and to many other places arond the world that they have been deployed to as part of there service. The Royal Canadian Legion Airdrie, Branch 288 and its many sponsors, have combined there efforts to provide the citizens of Airdrie with and important monument that recognizes the service and the sacrafices made by our members of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

In recognition and memory of the efforts approximatley 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel who served and the 162 Canadians who died in the cause of bringing peace and freedom to the people of Afghanistan. 

The cairn was erected and dedicated in 2004.  

A statue of a Ukrainian-Canadian internee circa 1916, entitled Why?, was installed at the Castle Mountain Internment camp site, in Banff National Park, on August 12, 1995. It was sculpted by John Boxtel, and was the first statue erected in Canada in memory of those imprisoned during Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914 – 1920. Both the statue and trilingual historical marker were paid for by the Ukrainian-Canadian communities of Banff and Calgary, in cooperation with the Ukrainian-Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), and no federal assistance was received.

The public unveiling of the statue and accompanying trilingual historical marker commemorating the unjust internment of Ukrainian-Canadian’s as “enemy aliens” took place in Banff National Park, at Castle Mountain, on August 12, 1995. The Castle Mountain Internment Camp in Banff, Alberta, which was built in 1915 at the base of Castle Mountain, was a Canadian internment camp which held immigrant prisoners of Ukrainian, Austrian, Hungarian, and German descent. Internees did a variety of work, including constructing roads and clearing land. Through their labour, the internees played an important part in building Canada’s western national parks.

This bridge is dedicated, June 6, 2007, to Corporal Frederick George Topham, a medical orderly with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions in a military operation March 24, 1945. The following is an excerpt from the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association newsletter - Joanne de Vries At 1200 hours with a blanket of cloud and a slight drizzle persisting, 1st Can Para Bn Association Patron MGen Herb Pitts conducted the ceremony at the suspension bridge over the North Saskatchewan River which is approximately one kilometre from the staging area. The bridge was to be dedicated in honour of Cpl. Topham VC. Herb gave a short address followed by a prayer by Battalion veteran Rev. Sam Voth-Doan. Jan de Vries unveiled the plaque assisted by Cpl Dave Bradley and Pte John Wong of 1 Field Ambulance, both qualified Paras and medical technicians. The following is an excerpt from the National Defence - Directorate of History and Heritage - Victoria Cross Biography Victoria Cross - Second World War, 1939-1945 Frederick George Topham Frederick George Topham was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 10 August 1917. In March 1945, Corporal Topham was serving as a medical orderly in the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. At that time, the battalion was part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade of the British Army’s 6th Airborne Division. On the morning of 24 March 1945, parachute and glider-borne troops of the 6th Airborne Division landed on the east bank of the Rhine River, not far from the city of Wesel in Germany. These landings were carried out in support of assault operations begun the night before by the 1st Canadian and 2nd British Armies to cross to the East bank of the river. After the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion landed just north of Diersfordt Wood, Corporal Topham heard a cry for help from a wounded man who was in the open. Two medical orderlies who went out in succession to treat the wounded man were killed. Immediately afterward and on his own initiative, Topham went forward through intense German fire to assist the casualty. As he treated the wounded man, Topham was himself shot through the nose, but continued to give first aid despite the severe bleeding and pain of his own injury. He was then able to carry the wounded man to shelter through continuous fire. Refusing treatment for his wound, Corporal Topham continued to assist the wounded for two more hours, by which time all casualties had been evacuated to safety. Although he finally consented to have his nose dressed, he refused to be evacuated with the other wounded. Later, alone and again under enemy fire, Topham rescued three soldiers from a burning machine gun carrier that threatened to explode, brought them to safety, and arranged for the evacuation of the two men who survived. For his courageous and selfless devotion to his comrades, Corporal Topham was awarded the Victoria Cross. He died in Toronto on 3 May 1974.

This memorial was erected in 1960, dedicated by the Rockyford Legion to the war veterans of the First World War and Second World War.