A campaign called “Bringing the Valour Home” aims to track down medals awarded to Midland residents who fought and died for their country.
In honour of Remembrance Day, the Bank of Montreal and TD Canada Trust in Midland are displaying the medals and other items of veterans.
The display in the Bank of Montreal is in honour of Catherine Drinkwater, who served in the Second World War; the TD Canada Trust display is a tribute to John Tremblay.
“I think it’s important to get their medals and establish a little more information on each of the individuals,” said museum curator Jamie Hunter. “Their names are on the cenotaph, but, if anybody’s interested, there’s no more information.”
Also on display at TD is a display on the 1941 Battle of Hong Kong in which Midland natives Raymond Oakley and James Mohan died. An adjacent display features a book about the battle, called “Beyond the Call,” by author Burke Penny.
Penny spent five years creating the book, drawing information from archives in Ottawa and interviews with seven of the 24 Canadian veterans who survived the battle.
“I wanted the book to focus on the men themselves, with the Hong Kong battle and the POW camps as the broader backdrop to their stories,” said Penny in a press release.
All proceeds from the book will go toward the building of a Hong Kong battle memorial wall in Ottawa.
Scott McConnell is a co-operative education student from Midland Secondary School.
