Plaques honouring veterans removed to prevent them from being stolen

 TREVOR WILHELM    October 10, 2017

Nine of the 61 plaques, unveiled Saturday along the Detroit River, had disappeared before Terri Davis-Fitzpatrick gave up and started removing them Tuesday.

“It feels like somebody punched me in the stomach,” said Davis-Fitzpatrick, a local organizer of the National Flags of Remembrance project. “I thought people were better than this. They should know what our veterans did, and to honour and respect the sacrifices that they made for us.

“To do this is a slap in the face. It’s disrespectful. Like I said the other day, it’s like going into a cemetery and toppling over a headstone. It’s desecrating a sacred area. It’s heartbreaking.”

The flags and plaques were unveiled Saturday afternoon during the Flags of Remembrance ceremony to honour 128,000 Canadian soldiers killed or missing in action since the Boer War began in 1899. It was one of 16 ceremonies held simultaneously in cities across the country as part of a project by Veterans Voices of Canada.


Terri Davis-Fitzpatrick of Veterans Voices of Canada on Tuesday removes a maple leaf plaque dedicated to a fallen soldier at the Flags of Remembrance display at Assumption Park. The plaques, which honour Canadian armed forces heroes, have been disappearing since last Saturday’s unveiling ceremony.


Several plaques bearing the names of fallen Canadian soldiers are shown.

Hundreds of people attended the ceremony including veterans, cadets, police officers and Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens. Silver Cross Mother Theresa Charbonneau, whose son Cpl. Andrew Grenon died in Afghanistan in 2008, was also there.

There are now 128 flags flying on the Windsor waterfront near the foot of Sunset Avenue. Davis-Fitzpatrick said each flag is meant to represent 1,000 missing or killed soldiers.

There were also plaques on 61 on the flagpoles. The plaques — each shaped like a maple leaf and adorned with the name of a veteran — were sponsored by citizens wishing to honour a friend or family member. The plan was to put up more plaques as people came forward to sponsor them.

But shortly after the plaques were posted, they started disappearing. Davis-Fitzpatrick said her son took a walk past the flags on Sunday and realized five of the plaques were gone. She said a friend went down to the river on Tuesday and reported that another four were missing.

“It’s nice to look at, you see the beautiful red maple leaf,” said Davis-Fitzpatrick. “People are interested in it. They want to honour a loved one or a friend that served, and now we have to take them down and we won’t be able to see that.”

She said she felt there was no other choice, so on Tuesday afternoon she headed down to the river to remove all the remaining plaques from the flagpoles.

“It’s like a free-for-all now,” said Davis-Fitzpatrick, who reported the missing plaques to a Windsor police contact. “They’re just going to keep on being taken off.”

Davis-Fitzpatrick said the plaques were a nice way to help people relate to the veterans because they could read the names and see what regiment or outfit the person served with.

“Many people walk this path and they stop to look at these signs, and they get to see the veterans,” she said. “These are in tribute to and in remembrance of. So it’s disheartening in that respect.”

Davis-Fitzpatrick said people can still sponsor the project, but no more plaques will be put up. She said any money donated will go toward another part of the project that involves travelling the country to collect videos and interviews of Canada’s veterans.

Some of the money donated will also go to Wounded Warriors of Canada. Despite that, she said it’s unfortunate that someone in Windsor has dishonoured what should be considered hallowed ground.

“I’m truly disappointed,” said Davis-Fitzpatrick. “I thought it was such a magnificent display. Unfortunately, we have to take them down.”


Terri Davis-Fitzpatrick of Veterans Voices of Canada calls the stealing of plaques honouring fallen soldiers “a slap in the face.”

http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/plaques-honouring-veterans-removed-to-prevent-them-from-being-stolen