This story is part of Heroes Among Us , a special National Post series on Canadian military valour, celebrating courage in the presence of the enemy. It is unusual for a war memorial to look to the future. Military tributes and honours normally look back to the past, whether they are grand installations such as cenotaphs or Ottawa’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, or more personal awards like Canada’s military valour distinctions.
So the students of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board in Laval, Que., were in unfamiliar territory when they built their memorial to Canadian military heroes, in special honour of one especially inspiring soldier. With an eye out for others, they have also been reading the National Post’s series Heroes Among Us , describing the brave actions in Afghanistan of several plausible candidates for the Canadian Victoria Cross, struck in bronze but never yet awarded.
The Corporal François (Franck) Dupéré Legacy Memorial, built of wood with metal accents ambitiously engraved “11 November 2023 — November 11, 2123,” is soon to be shipped to the King’s-Edgehill School in Nova Scotia on the first leg of what is intended to be a 100-year journey around high schools in Canada, gaining a new soldier’s name to remember at each one. These students, under the guidance of Daniel Johnson, whose title is “Spiritual Care and Guidance, and Community Involvement Animator,” have a history of being unsatisfied with perfunctory displays of remembrance .