A retired member of the Canadian armed forces, Allen has been making and distributing hundreds of free yarn poppies since 2014 to promote Remembrance Day. The 200-odd ones she has made this year each come with a photo of a fallen Canadian solider and a brief fact about their lives. They have been hung on an artificial tree at the Morinville town office.
“It’s really hard to do them,” she said of the poppies, as she thinks about how the families of fallen soldiers feel at this time of year while she makes the flowers.
Allen is one of the many Canadians who will pause to honour the contributions of Canada’s soldiers on Nov. 11, each in their own way.
No stones alone
W.D. Cuts students got a head start on remembrance Nov. 4 when some 450 of them gathered at the St. Albert Municipal Cemetery to place poppies on military headstones. The gathering was part of the national No Stone Left Alone project — an annual event which seeks to teach youth about Canada’s military history.
St. Albert No Stone Left Alone organizer Bob Fagan said this was the seventh time such a ceremony had been held in St. Albert, six of which have been attended by W.D. Cuts students. COVID-19 restrictions limited last year's event to just him and a few veterans.
“It’s fantastic to see all these kids come out,” Fagan said.
W.D. Cuts assistant principal Matt Tripp said having students visit actual military graves has a bigger impact than an in-school assembly. Cuts students also held lessons on military history and a virtual Remembrance Day ceremony prior to Nov. 11.
Fagan said Thursday’s weather was perfect for the students — not freezing like in the past six years, but still chilly enough to give them a taste of what troops experienced on the front lines.
Fagan said it felt good to be part of this act of remembrance.
“That’s what it’s all about: remembering those who have gone before.”
Morinville tributes
Allen said her poppy campaign came out of her service in Afghanistan, during which she saw the bodies of 13 Canadian soldiers who died sent home through ramp ceremonies.
“It affected me deeply,” she said, particularly the ramp ceremony for Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, which she personally oversaw.
Allen said she made her first 158 poppies in tribute to Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, in part to help with her own healing from post-traumatic stress disorder. Speaking with Stewart’s mother convinced her to keep making the poppies.
“I knew I had to keep doing it, because it was not only healing for me, it was healing for her,” Allen said.
Allen said she sews the poppies in her free time from August to mid-October. She always knits ones for fallen soldiers from Afghanistan, but in some years also does ones for soldiers who fell in other conflicts or outside of combat. The most she’s ever done in a year was 500. Most go to the town hall tree (which was originally a Christmas decoration from her house; the town has since bought its own), but some get added to wreaths.
“I never ever expected it to have the reaction it has,” she said, but she’s happy people enjoy them.
Allen’s tree went up at the town hall office Nov. 1. She encourages guests to take a poppy from it and look up the soldier on the attached profile.
Also making its return Nov. 1 was Morinville Legion president Kelvin Kuzuk’s elaborate front-yard display to remembrance near 102nd Street and 95th Avenue.
Kuzuk said he started the display five years ago to commemorate his fallen brothers and sisters in arms. He built the kneeling soldiers first, then added the rifles, cross, and oversized poppies in later years. This year he upgraded to a more elaborate cross and added a directional sign with the locations of past Canadian conflicts.
“I’ve got Korea on the top because that’s where my dad served,” he said of the sign, and Croatia and Afghanistan to reference his own tours.
Kuzuk said he hopes to add a dog and a motorcycle messenger to the display next year. The display seemed popular with town residents, some of whom took pictures in front of it.
Kuzuk said the display would be up until Nov. 12.
Remembrance Day events
Kuzuk and about 30 other area veterans will be at the Morinville Legion hall west of Morinville Public School this Thursday for the town’s Remembrance Day event.
There won’t be a parade this year due to the pandemic, but Kuzuk said residents were welcome to watch the ceremonies from outside the roped-off area starting at about 10:30 a.m.
Kuzuk said this year’s ceremony would be bittersweet for him — he’s retiring this year, so this will be his last service as an active soldier.
“It won’t be my last Remembrance Day ceremony, but it certainly will be my last in uniform,” he said.
Roughly 100 veterans and dignitaries will be at the St. Albert cenotaph by St. Albert Place at about 11 a.m. this Thursday for that city’s ceremony, said St. Albert Legion president Doug Delorme. Like last year, the Remembrance Day parade has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
“We’re recommending people stay away this year just because of the pandemic,” he said, adding that the city will broadcast the ceremony online.
Delorme encouraged anyone not able to attend or watch a Remembrance Day ceremony this week to wear a poppy and observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
