High River's Legion will be front and centre at this year's Little Britches Parade

The Royal Canadian Legion #71 will be front and centre at the 65th Little Britches Parade.

The theme of this year's parade is a salute to the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Air Cadets.

Past president of the High River Legion, Bob Collins says four special veterans will be parade marshalls this year.

"All of them have served in one theatre [of war] or the other. Three which are 100 years old and then we have the youngest one is 90. We have Glenn Traub that was an RCA pilot, we have Bryce Chase a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, we have another fellow by the name of Bob Roseneder he was in the Australian Air Force. And we have Royal Canadian Navy pilot Ed Hemmings."

Glenn Traub was an RCAF pilot and flew over the English Channel and the D-Day beaches just six weeks after the landings. Bryce Chase, also an RCAF pilot served in Northeast India and Burma and was awarded the Burma Star Medal. Bob Roseneder flew in the Royal Australian Air Force and also holds the Burma Star Medal. And Ed Hemmings was a Royal Canadian Navy pilot.

The four Honorary Parade Marshalls will accompany the parade float which is a Gipsy Moth airplane from 1928. The Gipsy Moth was the first trainer aircraft used by the RCAF. And the Gipsy Moth will be pulled by a 1926 International Speedwagon.

"We'll have the Gipsy Moth in the parade and also piloting the Moth we have our MLA for Livingstone-Macleod Chelsae Petrovic."

The Gipsy Moth played a historic role in High River during WWII. It played a key role in training fighter pilots at the airport just northeast of High River.

The aircraft that will be used in the 65th Little Britches Parade was originally owned by a civilian in 1929 but ended up crashing in the interior of British Columbia in 1935.  The remains of the plane were then picked up and sold to Clark Seaborn in Foothills County about 30 years later around 1965. It took Seaborn ten years to make it airworthy again. It is still licensed and continues to fly. 

Also, special thanks to Doug Lansdell from Foothills County for providing the 1926 International Speedwagon which will tow it during the parade.

Collins also says the Legion's Show and Shine, the third annual, will be on 3rd and 4th Avenue SW in downtown High River.

If you'd like to be in Show and Shine registration is $20 at the corner of 3 Avenue and 1st Street SW between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m. Email Don at media@rcl71.ca for more.

The Little Britches Parade gets underway at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, May 18th in downtown High River.