To mark the 70th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, many local veterans and prisoners will be specially remembered at the 82nd annual Decoration Day at Omega Cemetery near Gadsby this Sunday at 2 p.m.
“I hope local families of Dieppe prisoners will attend,” said Legion Poppy fund chair Rosalind LaRose of the Stettler branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Jack Chapman, Stan Edwards, Raymond Gilbert and Bill Stewart are the only Stettler-area veterans involved in that incident who are still alive today.
More than 30 Stettler-area veterans were involved in the Second World War Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern cost of France on Aug. 19, 1942.
“This will be our 82nd annual Decoration Day,” said LaRose, whose father Albert Chick was among the survivors.
Guest speaker will be Brett Cliffton, grandson of prisoner-of-war Bill Cliffton, who has roots in Lethbridge and battled with many of the Stettler veterans.
“Brett has visited Dieppe three times, so he is quite knowledgeable of the event,” LaRose said.
Much like a Remembrance Day service, Decoration Day honours the war veterans and loved ones who sacrificed their lives, and draws up to 200 people, LaRose said.
More than 6,000 infantryman, mostly Canadian, were supported by limit Royal Navy and large Royal Air Force contingents.