‘It’s a powerful visual’
Late veterans honoured with display of personalized crosses at Rustico cenotaph
RUSTICO – The rows of small white crosses lined together at the cenotaph in Rustico like soldiers standing at attention pay heart-felt tribute to the late veterans that called the surrounding communities here home.
Simon Lemay, a member of the Knights of Columbus (K of C), spearheaded the project that resulted in the eye-catching display of hundreds of wooden crosses, each bearing a poppy and the name of a veteran.
James Donnelly, the grand knight of the K of C’s Father McNeill Council 9025, researched the names of area veterans who have died.
He came up with 420 that served in the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and other members of the regular Canadian Armed Forces.
One of the veterans named on a cross served in the Second Boer War, which ran from Oct. 11, 1899-May 31, 1902.
“It’s a powerful visual of the number of men and women who served our Armed Forces and have passed on,’’ says Donnelly.
“May they rest in peace.’’ Donnelly thanked the Town of Rustico for allowing the display to stand prominently on the grounds of the cenotaph.
“It was a lot of work,’’ adds Lemay, who served for 26 years with the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers in the Canadian Forces, seeing duty in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
“It took about three months," he says, adding it was a team effort of the Knights of Columbus.
Lemay says the initiative is a multi-year project. Plans are to put the display up each year in the days leading up to Nov. 11, adding crosses along the way.
“We want the veterans to be remembered by the young generation so they can start asking questions,’’ he says.
The Knights of Columbus is a global Catholic fraternal service order composed of practising Catholic men.