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Student’s Remembrance Day poem wins award
11/05/08
BY MARK WEBER
Red Deer Express
A city student currently studying in Lethbridge has landed a prestigious national award for a poignant Remembrance Day-themed poem.
Brittany Faux was one of six winners of the 2008 Gunter History Awards for her poem Why, Grandpa? Why?
The poem is dedicated to her great, great grandfather Private George E. Reed who died in June of 1916.
“The story just kind of wrote itself,” explains Faux, who is a history major at the University of Lethbridge.
Her poem, written early this year, is a collection of memories and images from hearing the story of her beloved relative who died from fighting in the First World War.
Her grandfather relayed the experience of his grandfather and she was struck by his emotion in telling the story.
She was also inspired to write the poem after a trip to Europe when she was a student at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.
Students visited cemeteries and memorials in France and Belgium and Faux located the grave of her great, great grandfather.
“It was pretty emotional,” she said.
That experience, along with her grandfather’s memories, ultimately inspired the poem.
“He so happily went to serve our great nation/everyone gave him hugs and appreciation/he crossed the great ocean with lots of devotion/not sure of his life ahead,” the poem reads.
It goes on to describe his experiences in war, seeing friends lose their lives and knowing he had a family of his own back home eagerly awaiting his return.
“Men got sick and often died/my great, great granddad surly heard the cries/He would storm over the sand bags with but one command/whether ready or not to fight for his real home land.”
The Friends of the Canadian War Museum are sponsors of the 2008 Colonel Douglas H. Hunter History Awards.
These annual awards are a way of encouraging interest in Canadian military history among high school students.
This year’s theme was ‘Life in the Trenches of the First World War’.
Each winner landed a cash award of $1,000 as well.
The winning poems will be published in the winter edition of Legacy magazine and soon be posted at www.friends-amis.org.
mweber@reddeer.greatwest.ca 309-5459
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