Remembrance Day services in every community Monday, November 11.

(KATHY MICHAELS / iNFOnews.ca)

Remembrance Day ceremonies may not be possible this year given COVID-19 precautions but that doesn't mean there won't be a way to honour local men and women who died in wars past.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1945, The Rotary Club of Kelowna, Okanagan Military Museum Society, the City of Kelowna, the British Columbia Dragoons, Royal Canadian Legion and local Army, Sea, and Air Cadets, plus local volunteers have worked together to plan a special event for the week leading up to Remembrance Day.

For the third year, the Field of Crosses will see 240 white crosses installed in City Park, close to the Kelowna Cenotaph, to commemorate the lives of the Canadian Armed Forces personnel who lost their lives in the service of their country.

"This project will create a visual remembrance for each of the names inscribed on the Kelowna Cenotaph. People from the Kelowna area will be invited to visit the crosses anytime between Nov. 3 and Nov. 11 to pay their individual respects without large ceremonies," Carol Eamer, member of the Rotary Club of Kelowna and Field of Crosses organizer, said in a press release.

"This display will touch close to home for members of our community – including students – in a meaningful way, visually depicting the numbers of young Canadians from the Kelowna area who paid the ultimate sacrifice in fighting for the freedoms we enjoy today. It is also our intention that participating students and future generations living in Kelowna will benefit from the understanding of the stories and the lives of individuals behind the names on the Cenotaph." 

A similar exhibit is erected each November in Calgary where over 3,000 crosses are installed each year at a park on Memorial Drive.

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