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During the 1958 B.C. Centennial "Changes of the guard" ceremonies were held in Fort Langley May 21 - 28, where a group of British Royal Engineers in replica 1858 costumes symbolically passed on their duties to the Royal Canadian Engineers under the command of Captain B. Breiville. The Canadian Engineers were a group of non-commissioned officers and sappers of the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineers from Camp Chilliwack of Vedder Crossing. TThe corp also performed at the Fort Langley National Historic Site for Princess Margaret's official visit.

James Skea (1889-1963) was born in Langley on December 28, 1889 to parents Elizabeth and John Skea. They had come to Canada in about 1887 and had homesteaded in Langley in 1888 on Telegraph Trail near Otter. James farmed in Langley all his life and served in Canada with the Canadian Engineers in World War I, enlisting in Vancouver on September 3, 1918 and being discharged on 30 January 1919. He married Ruth Victoria Sophia Hector on August 28, 1919. They had 3 children: Ila Ruth (19 October 1920), Rheta May (1 May 1922) and James Hector (30 August 1924). James served as a councillor of the Township of Langley in the 1930s into the 1940s and was a member of the Langley Advisory Planning Committee at the time of his death on January 5, 1963.