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Remembrance Day
Poppies sold at 91
A senior with close connections to the military believes more should be done to recognize the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers. by Troy Landreville
tlandreville@langleyadvance.com
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Mary Bruhaug has a special place in her heart for our soldiers, past and present. The 91-year-old’s deep-seated connection to both the Canadian and British military forces dates back many decades. Bruhaug has been a legion member for the past 35 years and says she has never missed a poppy campaign. On Tuesday afternoon, she sat with her daughter Janice Myer, selling poppies by donation at a table set up near the Willowbrook Shopping Centre’s west entrance. Her late husband Jarl, who died in 1995, was a Second World War veteran. Jarl, who enlisted with the Canadian Army in 1940 and served from 1942 to ’45, never went overseas. “The reason he didn’t go overseas was they called him an… alien because he was born in Norway, and because the Germans occupied Norway, so he was just kept in Canada,” Bruhaug said. “He used to do the map reading when they went out on manoeuvres and what not.” Bruhaug’s connection to the military dates back even further. Her dad Robert Patten served with the British army during the First World War. Patten served from 1914 to ’17. He was discharged because he was “gassed” Bruhaug shared, and was shot through the knee. Bruhaug’s oldest brother, Robert Patten Jr., served throughout the duration of the Second World War. “We came from England in 1927,” she recalled, “because he was a veteran and we were always taught to be very patriotic to our country – in England we were patriotic.” When she was five years old and attending kindergarten in her native England, Bruhaug and her classmates drew flags on slates. “We were brought up to be patriotic,” she said.
Langley Legion member Mary Bruhaug, 91, sold poppies by donation at Willowbrook Shopping Centre on Tuesday afternoon. Poppy sales fill Poppy Trust Funds to help ex-service members and their dependents, support drop-in centres for seniors and mealson-wheels services, provide bursaries for children and grandchildren of veterans, and offset costs of housing and care facilities for elderly and disabled persons.
Troy Landreville Langley Advance
Bruhaug, who has lived in the organization she was representLangley area since 1972, began ing. The question floored her. volunteering with the local “The poppies were right in legion and has the distinction of front of me; and a grown man being the first female president doesn’t understand about the with Branch 21 poppies,” she (Langley). said. She believes that Education is “I sit in here, and so as time passes, the vital to re-igniting many people go by sacrifices Allied future generawithout a poppy.” soldiers made for tions’ understandfreedom continue ing of what went Mary Bruhaug to fade in people’s on in past wars. memories. “We don’t have “I have a chip on my shoulder enough volunteers to go out to about it,” Bruhaug said. “I sit in the schools where it should be here, and so many people go by done,” she said. “When I was without a poppy.” very active, and our legion was A man Bruhaug estimated to be very active, we used to go out in his 50s or 60s asked her what to all the schools that asked us,
Lest We Forget November 11
and the veterans would go with us. If the veterans couldn’t talk, I would, or some other veterans would. We’d go to Cubs and Scouts and talk about it. But we don’t have the volunteers to do that, anymore. We just don’t have enough volunteers.” Bruhaug plans on attending the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Langley Legion. “My daughter and son-in-law always go, and I’ve got one grandson who never misses them,” she said. “When he was little I took him to all the Remembrance Day [ceremonies]. He’s married now, he’s got children, and he takes them to them.”
Remembrance Day is Monday, Nov. 11.
For times and information about local Remembrance Day ceremonies and observances, see our special section, pages A17-A24.