Marie Lea Mathers (right) presents fellow Legion member Colin Riese with one of the first poppies of 2019. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Remembrance Day

‘Lest we forget,’ P.A. legion launches annual poppy campaign

Oct 25, 2019 | 3:30 PM

The P.A. legion kicked off their Remembrance Day campaign on Friday, presenting the first poppy of the year to Mayor Greg Dionne in a ceremony that took place at the Prince Albert branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Member Marie Lea Mathers did the honours, pinning the plastic flower onto the jackets of the mayor and a group of local veterans, reminding each of them, “lest we forget.”

“It’s heartbreaking, my husband was a veteran of the Second World War, his picture’s on the wall there and he’s gone – 26 years already. But to do anything for the veterans, I’m always there” she said after the ceremony,” she told paNOW.

Marie Lea Mathers poses with Mayor Greg Dionne after presenting him with the first poppy (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW staff)

Mathers herself is a veteran, though she was just a teenager during the Second World War she served at a P.O.W. camp in Manitoba. Her husband, who she met through the military, was part of the invasion of Juno Beach.

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“My late husband never spoke about the war unless he was inebriated, that was a secret that he always kept,” she said.

The month of November has been important to Mathers as a month of remembrance since her youth, and now as a legion member, it’s a busy time of organizing events.

“It is kind of bittersweet because my husband isn’t with me anymore, but my youngest son will make sure that he comes home for Remembrance Day,” she said.

A full day of events and ceremonies is planned for Nov. 11.

A photo of Marie Lea Mathers’ late husband (center) hangs on the wall of the Prince Albert Legion (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW)

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom