Hundreds gather to mark Peacekeepers Day in Calgary

Peacekeepers Day was observed in Calgary on Sunday.

Hundreds of people paid tribute to the fallen Sunday at Peacekeepers Park in Garrison Green S.W.

Peacekeepers Day takes place as a tribute to nine Canadian peacekeepers who were killed in 1974 when their plane was shot down by three Syrian missiles.

Retired peacekeeper Richard Wright was part of that 1974 peacekeeping mission in Suez and was there Sunday.

Wright said Peacekeepers Day serves an important purpose.

“We don’t teach history in school anymore, and this gives us the opportunity to tell people about Canada’s peacekeepers,” he said.

“I ran into a chap yesterday. He had never heard of peacekeeping,” Wright said. “Had no idea what peacekeeping was, and that is an abomination, but it’s the reality in Canada and the Canadian education system -- our kids and our grandkids and our great grandkids are losing out on the history of this country.

“So when you get about 450 people, which is about we had today out here, the majority of them are aware of what this is, but there’s a lot of people from this neighborhood who had no idea what this was, and they came out and stayed for the whole thing, and I think they’re a little bit more richer for staying.”

One of those in attendance Sunday was Sian Lesueur, whose son, Prvt. Garrett William Chidley, was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 30, 2009.

“I have to be honest, I’m from Vancouver area, and we never had anything like this in Vancouver,” Lesueur said. “So when I was invited to this, I thought I’ll go and see what it’s about.

“And I had not realized until I’d spoken to the other Silver Cross families that I’ve met and already know how important this day is,” she added. “That’s what Canada is known for, is peace keeping. So I think it will be very important to me.”

For more about National Peacekeepers Day, go here.