A time honoured tradition will take place in Yarmouth next Saturday, September 29.
The 84th Independent Field Field Battery will participate in the Freedom of the City.
It goes back to ancient times when armies were not allowed to enter walled towns or cities.
Battery Commander Major Murray Roefler tells CJLS News it’s a very prestigious honour that’s granted to a military unit that’s associated with or posted close to a community.
“The 84th Battery has been around in one name or another since before 1812. There were artillery companies protecting the shores of southern Nova Scotia well before 1812 and probably during the American Revolutionary War. They have a lineage which belongs to the 84th Battery. In 1867, when Canada was formed, we were part of the 14th Field Regiment. There were batteries in Yarmouth and all along the South Shore from Digby down to Shelburne and Lockeport and even as far as Liverpool and Bridgewater. Over the years that’s been reduced. After the Second World War we became the 84th Battery and we stayed in Yarmouth.”
He says the the Freedom of the City Parade, beginning at 2 p.m. will consist of members of the 84th battery, the 36th Canadian Brigade Group Band, as well as all three cadet corps from Yarmouth.
“We’ll be marching from 82 Parade Street (the armouries) down Parade Street to town hall where the Freedom of the City ceremony will take place and where the mayor will grant the 84th Battery the freedom of the Town of Yarmouth. We’re really looking forward to this.”
The following day, Sunday September 30, the 84th will host an open house at the armouries from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m..
Here’s a brief video from last year’s first annual open house at the 84th:
84th Independent Field Battery open house on now pic.twitter.com/FAf1sW9bhV
— Y95 – CJLS (@CJLSRadio) September 30, 2017
(CJLS News file photo)
