Symbol of sacrifice
Plaque honouring Truro’s Frank Mellish installed at P.E.I. high school
It was heartfelt moment for Kendra Mellish as she helped install the metal plaque honouring her husband Frank Mellish’s sacrifice.
The ceremony took place recently at Kensington Intermediate Senior High School in P.E.I., which Mellish attended.
KISH students and staff, community members and fellow veterans listened as Kendra read her husband’s autobiography, which the warrant officer wrote just months before his death on Sept. 3, 2006 in Afghanistan.
Kendra says it is important to recognize the pivotal Canadian contributions and sacrifices that have been made.
“All of us today have been given the opportunity of freedom and the chance to become citizens of the world,” she said. “We have also been given the responsibility that goes with it — to ensure that we, as individuals, continue to exemplify truth, integrity, tolerance,
knowledge and understanding — so that as a community, a country, and a world, we can move forward remembering, but not repeating, the past.”
Frank was born and raised in Truro. He moved to P.E.I. at the age of 12. He was first exposed to the military at CFB Summerside, where his mother worked. There he was introduced to air cadets, and in that squadron, met his “air cadet sweetheart.”
Frank was 20 when he enlisted in December 1988. He travelled to CFB Cornwallis and then onto CFB Petawawa for basic infantry training. The next year he was posted to the 1st battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment in CFB London. During his service, Frank was deployed to Somalia, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
J.D. Murray, one of the organizers
of the plaque dedication, said Canadian Pacific Railway helped make the installation possible.
“Canadian Pacific Railway has been placing bronze plaques in Canadian schools memorializing Canadian members who lost their lives in the Afghan conflict,” Murray said. “We read about the initiative in a legion magazine issued last year. We applied for the plaque, which costs about $1,100. Then we learned we would
be issued one in Frank’s name. It arrived earlier this year and here we are today.”
Plaques have been dedicated in high schools for fallen members of the military, allowing those who have been killed to live on in the memory of the students for generations to come, he said.
Malpeque member of Parliament Wayne Easter said the best thing each student can do when they see Frank’s plaque is to say thank you.
“We need to recognize all the veterans that are here and all of those who have died in conflict and in peacekeeping over the years. It is because of them that the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy as Canadians and the respect Canada has around the world.”