Poppy Campaign Launched On 100th Anniversary Of Passchendaele

  The Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy campaign is underway. Members of the Legion as well as local dignitaries were on hand at Pine Centre Mall this morning, to launch the campaign. “The poppy is a reminder of the sacrifice that the men and women made for us over the years,” says Bruce Gabriel with the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 43. “It also reminds us to give thanks for the freedom in the country we live in, the best country in the world.” None of the money from poppy sales goes to the Legion, rather it helps veterans and their families. It is also the Legion’s largest fund raising effort of the year. This month, October 26th, to be exact, also marks the 100th anniversary of the conflict in Passchendaele in the southwest region of Belgium, an area known as Flanders. It was in that battles that 16,000 Canadian lost their lives. Known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Flanders was renowned for its marshy terrain. Canadian troops took over operations at Passchendaele on October 26. They picked up the efforts of British soldiers who were only able to push the lines by nine kilometres through the mud and flooded landscape. Historians cite the battle as one of the bloodiest and most savage of the Great War.