After a 41-year absence from Prince George, the Rocky Mountain Rangers took their place in the honour guard Thursday morning for the city's Remembrance Day ceremony.
Representing the Rangers B Company, Master Corporal Cody Attewell and Petty Officer 2nd Class Daryl Mellquist, laid a wreath at the cenotaph, as large snowflakes descended from the gray sky onto the large crowd of onlookers at City Hall.
"Today is a very special day, an opportunity for the Rocky Mountain Rangers B Company from Prince George to commemorate the service of our members overseas and for those who have fallen in the line of duty," said Mellquist, a Saskatchewan native who began his military career as a reservist with the Regina Rifles. "Also, at the same time, it's the first time the Rangers have been able to parade as a formation in 41 years.
"It was a tremendous experience, very powerful seeing so much of the community attending the service. It was something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life."
Now based out of the former Meadow elementary school on Dornbierer Crescent, the Rangers are now recruiting new members for the reserve unit in advance of the start of the basic military qualification course in February.
"We just recently moved into the building and at the same time we issued 14 young men and women from Prince George their camouflage uniforms and the equipment they will need to be infantry soldiers," said Mellquist.
"The roster is now 27. We have people who are attending university here [at UNBC] who belong to other units, so we have new recruits and we also have members from several units across B.C. as part of our company."
Mellquist said those who miss the initial training course will be able to pick that up at a later date.
"We're starting this from scratch, and our primary focus is to start training our men and women so that they can become basic infanteers and from there we'll continue in expanding on our skills and becoming more proficient with the equipment we are issued," he said.
As part of the Canadian military's army reserve, the Rangers' mandate is primarily to defend the country and to respond to national emergencies. As volunteers, Rangers also serve in overseas operations.
The Rocky Mountain Rangers reserve unit has supplied soldiers to campaigns dating back to the Boer War. The Rangers A Company Army Cadet Corps maintained a presence in the city at an armory on First Avenue, from 1957 to 1970. At that time, the Rangers had companies stationed in Prince George, Kamloops, Armstrong, and Nelson. More recently, from their base in Kamloops, the Rangers have served in Afghanistan, fighting the Kelowna forest fires, and with security of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Eligible recruits must be between the ages of 17 and 55.
"We have tremendous support here in the city for the startup of the Rangers in Prince George," Mellquist said. "We've had nothing but continual support and encouragement from members of the public and as well as from business and city hall.
"We do have to look over the horizon. The agreement we have with the school board is a lease for five years and at some point we are going to look at another location that would be better suited with a building that will be better structured for the needs we have."
