The Chilliwack Military Museum is hosting the CFB Chilliwack Legacy Walk for Remembrance Day week.
Darren Kennedy and Jim Harris will be your guides Nov. 12 for a one-hour tour of Chilliwack’s military plinths (plaques). The Legacy Walk starts at the Waves Coffee House in Garrison Village (45560 Market Way #1).
The first stop is All Sappers Memorial Park at the corner of Vedder Road and Keith Wilson Road.
The walk begins at 9 a.m. and takes place rain or shine.
“We are going to have this walk online (at cfbchilliwack.com), but we wanted to do an actual walk,” Kennedy said. “Plinths are military-style plaques, and they’re still all over the former grounds of CFB Chilliwack. They speak to different people or events or things, and the walk is important to do in person because it’s a visual reminder that the military was here.”
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There are still many Chilliwackians with ties to the former base, which closed in the late 1990s. But with the rapidly changing population and influx of people from Metro Vancouver, there are just as many newcomers who have no idea.
“Every day we get people at the museum who say, ‘Oh wow. I didn’t know this was here,’” Kennedy said. “It’s a history and a legacy that we shouldn’t lose. I just want to make sure there’s a presence maintained here, and a big part of it is also learning from the past.
Learning from the past helps us make decisions about the future.”
Karen Gorden, vice president of the Chilliwack Military Museum, said there’s so much to discover.
“There are the people who started the base, and my dad was one of the people who marched from the train station to the base in 1942,” she said. “It’s very important to understand and relive the history as you go along this walk. It’s really mind-boggling how much is there, and I think you’ll get ‘oh wow’ moments from people who experience it for the first time.”
The Legacy Walk is free, but Kennedy asks that you confirm your attendance by emailing imugcanada@yahoo.com.
For more info, visit cfbchilliwack.com
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eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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