ESTEVAN - A flag has been raised in Estevan in honour of Warrant Officer Tammy Ann Monteyne, a former local resident who dedicated over three decades of her life to serving Canada.
Monday morning Royal Canadian Legion Estevan branch president Jim (Frosty) Forrest, Monteyne's brothers Tim and Trent Monteyne, and South East Military Museums founder Craig Bird gathered at the cenotaph in Estevan to commemorate Monteyne's service.
Warrant Officer Monteyne, daughter of the late Andrew and Roseann Monteyne of Estevan, recently retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after nearly 34 years of service. Throughout her career, she completed several tours of duty in places such as Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since her retirement from the CAF, she now resides in Porters Lake, N.S., with her family.
Monteyne was unable to attend the ceremony on Monday and had her brothers be there for her.
It marked the first time that a flag at the cenotaph has been flown in honour of a local person retiring from CAF.
"Normally the flags at the cenotaph are placed in honour of the people that had served from the area and were killed. So to have somebody else's flag put up here is an honour because it's not something that happens every day," Bird explained. "The cenotaph and the flag here recognize the service of anybody that served in the Canadian Armed Forces, especially from the Estevan area. And it was the first time we were requested to the fly flag in honour of a local person and her long service. So we thought it was only appropriate for the legion and the museum to fly [her] flag here at the cenotaph."
The flag that was raised at the cenotaph on Monday is the flag that flew at the last base Monteyne was stationed at.
Bird explained that the Department of National Defense has a recognition program called Depart with Dignity for personnel with at least 25 years of military service to recognize the member's contribution to the Canadian Forces and to Canada. As a part of the program, when a member retires from the Canadian Armed Forces with long service, they are presented with a Canadian flag, which is flown according to their wishes.
"Sometimes the province flies a flag for them at the parliament buildings. [And] it was a request of hers to fly it here in Estevan," Bird added.
The flag will be flown at the cenotaph for a week until Aug. 20, when the 80th anniversary of the Raid of Dieppe (which took place on Aug. 19, 1942) will be marked by an educational session put up by the South East Military Museums at the legion hall in Estevan. After that, the flag will be returned to Monteyne.
