Remembering veterans
Sydney Mines Legion to honour vets with special crosses for Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day is a day to remember our veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of our country.
Legions across Canada participate each year in the annual poppy campaign to remember veterans, but along with that, the Royal Canadian Legion branch 8 in Sydney Mines is taking things one step further to honour its veterans.
The local Legion will place homemade crosses with the names of veterans, as well as the years they served, who lost their lives fighting for the country.
In total, 138 crosses will be placed at the community’s cenotaph on Main Street.
The crosses will honour 76 First World War veterans, 59 Second World War veterans, one Korean War veteran as well as single crosses for the Merchant Navy and the Unknown Soldier.
“The names on the crosses personalize the name of the veteran and as a Legion one of our slogans is ‘we will remember them’ and I think this is a great way to remember them,” said George MacIntosh, sergeant-at-arms at the legion.
“We hope the grandchildren of the First and Second World War veterans will have an opportunity to come and walk through the crosses and have a feeling like their in Europe (with the crosses).”
The crosses were handmade by contractor Kevin Miller, who’s father served in the Second World War, and James Lyle, chairman of the legion’s project committee. Work on the crosses began about two months ago and took 75 hours to complete.
“Any time you can bring the sacrifice of veterans to light, it’s a good day,” said Miller.
“The names are nice on the cenotaph, but the crosses are in your face and it puts them right out there and you get to see the number,” he said. “You can’t count on the cenotaph, but you can certainly see how many people died in the service of their country when it’s laid out like that with the crosses.”
The lumber for the crosses was donated by Central Building Supplies in Sydney.
“I agreed to it immediately,” said Dan Duffy, store manager at Central Building Supplies. “Kevin (Miller) is a longtime contractor with us and anything that involves community and supporting veterans, I’m on board.”
Duffy, an ex-service member in the Canadian Forces, said he has parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who served in war efforts.
“We’ve come a long way in supporting our veterans, especially our most recent veterans of recent conflicts,” said Duffy. “I’m all for anything that draws attention to supporting our veterans.”
This isn’t the first time the Sydney Mines Legion has furthered its remembrance of veterans.
In July, the legion placed 138 Canadian flags at the cenotaph to honour veterans as well as Canada’s 150th anniversary for Canada Day.
MacIntosh said the response from the community for the Canadian flag project was remarkable.
“We always try to step up to do something, I don’t want to say we go above and beyond other legion’s because everybody has their own projects,” he said. “I think the community is going to appreciate it once they see them.”
The crosses will be placed at the cenotaph on Wednesday and will remain at the location until after the Remembrance Day service on Nov. 11.
“I think on Nov. 11 when the
service is over, I think we’re going to have a lot of people walking through the crosses and reading the names on them,” said MacIntosh. “We’re going to have people among the crosses, explaining exactly what’s happening.”
MacIntosh invites the public to view the crosses, but not to take them.
“The one thing we ask is that the community respects them,” said MacIntosh. “We will be taking the crosses back after Remembrance Day and using them again next year.”
Meanwhile, the Sydney Mines Legion’s poppy campaign is well underway. MacIntosh said the campaign has been going well and said poppies are available at local businesses in the community.