Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 04/98) - Eighty-years after the bloodbath on the Western Front ended with an armistice between Germany and the Allies -- Canada among them -- and more than 40 years after the surrender of Germany and Japan in the Second World War, residents of Yellowknife join all Canadians in preparing to mark Remembrance Day next Wednesday.

Locally, the parade commander for this year's ceremony, Glenn Clousten, is quick to point out that Canadians also honour the sacrifice of those veterans of the Korean War and peace-keeping missions to the present day each Nov. 11.

"It's very important," he says of Remembrance Day. "It's part of your heritage."

Clousten's father and three uncles all served in the Second World War.

"In our family, we were lucky," he says. "All four came back. Other families weren't so lucky."

More than 110,000 Canadians gave their lives in conflicts this century.

Among those involved with this year's ceremony in Yellowknife are the Royal Canadian Legion, Legion Ladies Auxiliary, volunteers from the Canadian Armed Forces Northern Area Headquarters, the RCMP, Army and Air Cadets, the Elks Lodge, Orders of the Royal Purple and Yellowknife Scouts, Cubs, Girl Guides and Brownies.

The parade will begin at 10:05 a.m. and proceed up Franklin Avenue from the Legion Hall, turn right at 49th Avenue and onto the cenotaph where wreaths will be laid.

The parade will then move to St. Patrick's high school where a service will begin at 11:00 a.m.

A pot-luck lunch will take place at the Legion after the ceremony. Younger participants are invited to the Elks' Hall for refreshments, organizers say.