As part of the Lacombe Afghanistan Memorial Project, many gathered at the Royal Canadian Legion Lacombe Branch No.79 this afternoon to welcome a new war monument.

The LAV lll arrived in Lacombe earlier today, after being transported across Canada by train.

MP Blaine Calkins, who chose the new home for the monument, said bringing it to Lacombe was a no brainer.

“When I heard about Canada having acquired 250 of these light armoured vehicles and were going to make them available to municipalities or communities across Canada I immediately thought of Byron Greff who was the last solider killed in Afghanistan.”

“I came home with the idea of getting one of these vehicles to bring to the community."

Mayor Steve Christie said he's extremely close with the Greff family and is very excited about having the LAV lll here in Lacombe.

“Master Corporal Byron Greff and his family were friends of ours when we moved to Lacombe, they were actually the first family that we met when we moved to Lacombe 23 years ago.”

“To be a part of remembering him, to commemorating his sacrifice to not only Lacombe and Alberta, but to our country is a very special thing to me and a special thing to the community.”

Originally named the Kodiak, the LAV lll is the third generation of the Light Armoured Vehicle family of Infantry fighting built by General Dynamics Land Systems first entering service in 1999.

The monument will be displayed during the Lacombe Days parade, before being permanently placed in the Field of Honour at the Fairview Cemetery.