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Military Flavour

Many of Alberta's place names commemorate military events and people of years gone by. Military names can be found throughout the province and reflect our interest in remembering those who went before us, through victories and defeats with bravery and courage.

Here are just a few.....

Audet Lake, 63 km northeast of Fort McKay, commemorates F/L RJ. Audet, D.F.C., Lethbridge, who was killed in the WWII. It was officially named in 1950.

Jutland Mountain, 30 km northwest of Waterton Park, is named for the Battle of Jutland, a naval engagement that occurred between the British and German fleets during WWI. The battle took place 120 km of the Danish coast of Jutland.

Liége River, 148 km west of Fort McMurray, is named after an important industrial centre in Northern Belgium, Liège, close to the Dutch city of Maastricht. Due to its strategic position on the Meuse River, it suffered badly in both World Wars. As the surveyor in the area recorded the name in 1915, it is likely the name is commemorative of WWI activities. Liége in Alberta takes an acute accent while Liège in Belgium uses a grave accent. Liège is the French word for "cork."

Mount Cambrai, 120 km northwest of Banff on the Alberta-British Columbia boundary, also commemorates Canadian involvement in WWI. Canadian troops entered the town of Cambrai, 60 km southeast of Lille, France, on October 9, 1918.

Mount Indefatigable, 65 km west of Turner Valley, was named in 1922 after a battle cruiser, the Indefatigable, which was attacked in the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

Mount Zengel, 12 km north of Jasper, was named in 1951 and forms part of the Victoria Cross Range. Sergeant Raphael Louis Zengel, V.C., M.M. won the British Empire's highest military decoration while serving with the 45th Battalion in France. He was born in Fairbutt, Minnesota, U.S.A. in 1894 and later moved to Rocky Mountain House, where he enlisted in the Canadian Infantry in 1915. On September 27, 1918, Sergeant Zengel won the Victoria Cross for attacking a German machine gun emplacement. In March of that same year, he won the Military Medal for taking command of his platoon after the platoon officer sergeant had been wounded. Mounts Pattison, Kinross, McLean and Kerr form part of this range and also commemorate WWI VC winners.

Nightingale, a hamlet 50 km northeast of Calgary, began as a CPR colonization project in the early 1900's. First called the English Colony by the British settlers, the Post office and community was renamed Nightingale in commemoration of Florence Nightingale, an English nurse in the Crimean war.

Vimy, 55 km north of Edmonton, is a hamlet that commemorates the struggle for Vimy Ridge by Canadian Troops in April 1917.


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