A Lacombe man is working to rally the community around his nomination of Candace Greff for the National Silver Cross Mother in 2017.
 
The Silver Cross is awarded to mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty and the National Silver Cross Mother is chosen annually by the Royal Canadian Legion to represent the mothers of Canada at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa by laying a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial.
 
Candace lost her son Master Corporal Byron Greff in Afghanistan in the fall of 2011, he was the last Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Arnie MacAskill with the Lacombe Legion Executive says he's wanted to nominate Candace for several years, and the timing feels right “why not someone from Lacombe being a representative in Ottawa for 2017, it’s Canada 150, so I approached Candace Greff and I was really nervous about it because I know she has gone through a whole lot. They know it affected the whole City of Lacombe and area what happened to Byron and I just want the Greff family to know the whole City of Lacombe is standing behind them”.

The hall in the Lacombe Legion is known as the Master Corporal Byron Greff Memorial Hall, and the Field of Honour Project which will feature a LAV III will also pay tribute to Byron and the Greff family.

MacAskill is asking the community to get behind his nomination and write letters of support “you know one letter will nominate someone but what will a whole bunch of letters do, so I thought let’s get a letter writing campaign going here and let Ottawa and the Legion, Dominion Command in Ottawa know it’s just not me that’s interested in having Candace for the Silver Cross Mother, it’s all the people in Lacombe and surrounding areas, I’ve even got a letter from Nova Scotia”.
 
He's already received around 50 letters, and some local schools are getting behind MacAskill’s effort as well with students at Lacombe Comp and Clive School writing letters.

The goal is to hand deliver 100-200 letters next month to the Royal Canadian Legion Secretary Dominion Command.
 
To get behind the campaign and the Greff family you can drop off a letter at the Lacombe Legion or email MacAskill at amacaskill@telus.net