If you’re driving along 16th Avenue any time this weekend, be sure to keep your eyes open for the sea of red and white on the lawn at the George Derby Centre.
As the photos on the front and page 16 of today’s edition show, students from Armstrong Elementary and Cariboo Hill Secondary joined residents of the centre in placing Canadian flags on the site on Thursday.
The annual field of flags, held in conjunction with Remembrance Day, is a fundraiser for the centre. In return for a donation, visitors can receive a small Canadian flag to place on the lawn in honour of Canada’s veterans.
It’s heartwarming to see that, every year, the young people involved in the project respond with enthusiasm – and so does the city at large. There are 5,000 flags ready to go this year to help raise money for the centre, which provides a home for 300 seniors – two-thirds of whom are veterans from the Second World War and the Korean War.
The money it raises is just part of the reason why the annual event is such a positive one. The larger reason is the message it sends. That lawn full of flags proclaims loudly and clearly that today, 70 years after the end of the Second World War, we still remember and still pay tribute to our veterans.
We can also send that same message by the simple act of wearing a poppy on our lapel.
Poppies are by now so ubiquitous at Remembrance Day that it’s easy to overlook the importance of the symbol.
Making a donation in exchange for a poppy can provide very real practical help for veterans in need: the Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy fund is used to help veterans in many practical ways (see story page 20).
But, just like those small Canadian flags, the more important part of poppy wearing is the message it sends.
For more than 90 years, the poppy has been a symbol of honour and ultimate sacrifice – inspired by Lt.-Col. John McCrae’s famed poemIn Flanders Fields.
Wearing one is a visible display of respect for our veterans and a silent pledge that we will not allow their sacrifices to be forgotten.
So take a moment to remember. Place a flag. Wear a poppy.
We will not forget.
