Liberation Bell to Be Rung Twice a Year in Medicine Hat
About 60 people including veterans, cadets, currently serving armed forces personnel, city councillors and members of the public gathered at Riverside Veterans Memorial Park yesterday at 8:40am to attend the ringing of the Liberation Bell. The bell is a gift from the people of Steenbergen. They brought it to Canada in 2016 and presented it in Edmonton. That same bell is now with the South Alberta Light Horse at their Medicine Hat base.
The town of Welberg in the Netherlands was liberated in November 1944 during what is called “Five Days in November” by units of the 10th Brigade, 4th Canadian Division, including the Southern Alberta Regiment (Southern Alberta Light Horse) and the Algonquin Regiment.
Captain Brian Talty led the ceremony. There was a reading of “In Flanders Fields” as well as part of the poem named “For the Fallen”. “Last Post” was played and the crowd sang O Canada before the ringing of the bell.
When the bell was rung here, a bell was rung at the same time in Welberg and in North Bay Ontario. Going forward the Liberation Bell will be ring twice a year - once in May to mark the liberation of Steenbergen and the Netherlands, and in November to mark the liberation of Welberg.
Medicine Hat And Steenbergen Netherlands Mayors Sign Friendship Proclamation
More information about the Liberation of the Netherlands
