Earlier this year, some high school students showed Toronto Legionnaires they can remember veterans. Along the way, their art touched branch president, Debbie Moore. “I was blown away by the artwork. I could not believe how much time and effort they put into it,” Moore said.
Sgt. Joe (Joey) Montgomery was the first soldier from Scott County, in Scottsburg, Ind., to die in Iraq. His body was greeted at the airport by those who loved and knew him. There was no eulogy at Montgomery’s funeral. Perhaps he didn’t need one.
The journey began with a poster and a dare for Alexandra Hackett. “My friend and I went to town on a Saturday and there was a big, free event for the young people,” she said. “And that’s where we saw the poster.” It depicted a boy and girl serving in the army. With the words ‘Join the army. See the world,’ written across the picture.
At 5 a.m. each day while on duty, David Garcia woke up to the sound of the alarm, strapped on his gear and readied himself for anything and everything. “You are faced with tough decisions a lot of the time, but you don’t have a lot of time to react,” Garcia said.
As a child, Marilyn Trainor remembered the music of the Elgin Regiment brass band from across the street in her St. Thomas, Ont., home. “I always wanted to be in the (military),” she said.
The Grade 10 students entered “the smelly little drama class,” as most at Francis Libermann Catholic High School call it. They took off their shoes, formed a circle, and waited for the national anthem. Following the singing of “O Canada” and morning announcements, Catherine Smith asked her students to think of the years encompassed by the First World War, between 1914 and 1918. Using their imaginations, they wrote letters as soldiers that had left home.
Section 37 has Toronto City Council fuming over how to spend the $300 million it brings in each year. Some councillors say communities like Scarborough are missing out.
“I think it’s important to learn a bit about our local heritage and our local ecology. The ravines are a very important aspect of Toronto,” said Taylor Stone. “We have the largest ravine system of any city in the world. Getting Torontonians to appreciate it and appreciate that there is this potential to experience nature right in our backyards is important.”
It happened on a night in May of 1944. Fred Davies remembered the cannon shell from an enemy fighter aircraft flying past his face. It ripped into the engine of his bomber. “The engine and wing… blew up,” he remembered, “(creating) an immediate ball of constant flame about 20 feet or higher.”
In the past few weeks, Dunlop, 17, has built and tweaked a masterpiece of a maze at his home, in the Coxwell-Cosburn avenues area. It comes to life with animated spooks at every turn.