'I'll never forget': Edmonton veterans, civilians mark 100 years since end of WW 1

Hundreds of military personnel marched down Edmonton's 118th Avenue Sunday morning, their strides marked by the steady beat of a drum.

The men and women fell in line around the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph, footsteps muffled on the half-frozen ground.

There, they were joined by hundreds of people paying their Remembrance Day respects in the cold.

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It's been a century since the First World War ended. For the past 98 years, Edmontonians have been honouring the armistice at the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph, considered to be Alberta's oldest modern war monument.

During the First World War, more than 66,000 Canadians died on the battlefields of Europe. More than 45,000 lost their lives during the Second World War.

World War ll veteran Joe Holoiday, 93, was feeling the weight of that loss during Sunday's gathering.

"It means a lot to me because it brings back a lot of memories for my friends that I lost over there. I had friends right here in Beverly that I lost that were my best friends," said Holoiday, who is considered to be the oldest living WW II-veteran in Beverly.

"It's still hard for me to take, you know. Very hard. But I guess I'll never forget it. Never."

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Holoiday joined the army in 1942 when he was 18 years old.

"I was lucky to get back with no injuries or anything like that," he said. "But somebody was looking after me up there, I guess."

Sunday's service was one of several across the city, highlighting the contributions of veterans like Holoiday, along with those of Canadians serving today.

Joe Luce, chair of the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph committee, said it's crucial people continue to honour their sacrifices.

"It's important to remember the people who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms, the rights that we enjoy right now. Just the right to vote is important," said Luce, who was the master of ceremonies for Sunday's gathering.

"What we have now is because of them."