Children honour veterans in Prescott, Ont. with hundreds of poppies

PRESCOTT, Ont. -

A long-term care home south of Ottawa honoured veterans on Friday with a special poppy display made by local schoolchildren, which included a special message on the back of each one.

One by one, hundreds of poppies were placed into the grass at The Mayfield Retirement Residence in Prescott, Ont. to honour local veterans.

The Mayfield sent out a request a few weeks ago to public schools and community groups in the area to help with the project.

"What they did was they cut out the poppies for us and glued them to the popsicle sticks and they just wrote a very nice message to all the veterans," said Community Relations Manager, Faith Miller. 

Five schools took part in the program, from Prescott, Maynard, Johnstown and the Brockville area. 

"We actually had one of the schools come over yesterday. They sang 'O' Canada for the residents and did it in sign language as well, it was a very cute moment so we invited them again to come today," Miller said. 

Nearly 1,000 poppies were returned, and around 600 placed on the lawn.

Hundreds more were taped to walls throughout the inside of the building.

Dean Kirkby from Legion Branch 105 stopped in to take in the scene before heading to the cenotaph in Cardinal, Ont.

"I think this is beautiful what they have done here, very beautiful," he said.

"It's very important to teach the history from our fallen comrades," he noted. "What they've done, Mayfield Manor here, is fantastic."

Kirkby was happy to have an in-person Remembrance Day ceremony this year, the first since 2019. 

"Get the veterans, the people out, especially the children, to let them understand what our men and women did during the wars," Kirkby said.

"I had five uncles and a father in the Second World War. One didn't come back and a couple of them got injured and you know that's the way it was. Thank God my father came back," he added. 

Reg McIlvenna, a 96-year-old veteran and Mayfield resident, and oversaw the process on the front lawn. 

"It's great," he said. "I live here and didn't even know it was going on!"

"It's a lot of work for the girls here and it's too bad some of the kids couldn't be here to help," he added. 

McIlvenna also reminisced about his 14 years of service.

"I'm not complaining or nothing, but all my old friends are gone, and that hurts," he said. 

"I'd like to say one thing to the kids in the regiment, Pro Patria. That's it," he said. It means 'for one's country'.

On the back of each poppy, children wrote messages thanking veterans, including some, personal.

"They had me tearing up a bit I'm not going to lie," added Miller. "There's some in there where a lot of the kids were talking about their families and it just really does touch your heart, it really does."

The poppies will be removed Friday evening and given to the 47 residents to keep.

"They look beautiful and it's great to read the messages. It's really heartwarming," said Mari Ann Allen, visiting her mother. 

"(The children) are learning I'm sure while they are doing it, so that's fantastic," she said. 

"We're very happy with how it turned out," Miller said. 'I think to (the residents), it fells really good to see people actually honour them, and this moment."