In order to bring more awareness and garner even more support for the Lacombe Afghanistan Memorial Project, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 79 hosted an Afghanistan vet and son of Lacombe, Bryce Talsma.

The event was held inside the Byron Greff Memorial Hall, an appropriate place for the session as Greff was the last member of the Canadian forces to die in the conflict in Afghanistan.

Talsma was born and raised in Lacombe, and graduated from Lacombe Composite High School.

He completed training as an Infantry Officer in 2008, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

From there, he was shipped overseas, where he served in Southern Afghanistan from September of 2009 to April 2010, where he had the honour and distinction to command a mechanized infantry platoon.

Talsma is sharing his experience as a way to bring some context to the Lacombe Afghanistan Memorial Project, which is working to create a Field of Honour in the Fairview Cemetery, complete with a Lav III Monument.

Bringing the Lav III to Lacombe from Ontario is the biggest part of the fundraiser, and plans to be the centre piece of the Memorial Project.

Talsma says this cause is near and dear to his heart, for the obvious reasons of him being a veteran, but also as a native of Lacombe.

"I heard about from some contacts in Lacombe that they had pushed forward for the Afghanistan memorial, and when I heard about that I offered up my services in any capacity, to help raise awareness, funds, anything, it's project quite close to my heart as a fought and served in Afghanistan. And I've lost friends, I know people who have died in the sand in Afghanistan, so it's something I live with. And when I seen the tag line that they are going with, 'Every day is Remembrance Day', it touched me, because every day is Remembrance Day for me".

About 50 people were present to hear Talsma speak, with the price of admission being nothing but a donation to the project.