Creating a connection: Veterans’ legacies live on through Berwick banner program

Shawn Robinson lifted the banner and proudly watched it unfurl to reveal a photo of his late father in his military dress.

Donald Gordon Robinson was 17 when he enlisted in 1941 and went to England for basic training.

“The next thing you know, he’s heading to shore on D-Day,” said Shawn, noting he interviewed his father years later. “The only thing he really remembered from that first (moment) was how cold the water was when he drove off the landing craft.”

To Shawn’s left was William Robinson proudly holding the banner of his uncle, Victor Thomas Robinson. On Shawn’s right was Paul Robinson, who was honoured to be displaying the banner of his uncle, Arthur Lloyd Robinson.

Donald, Victor, and Arthur were all brothers who grew up on Main Street in Berwick and served in the Second World War.

They are three of the 20 men and women recognized in the second year of the Veterans’ Banner Program in Berwick.

“I think they’d be humbled. I think they’d be honoured – a little surprised because they all had humble beginnings and upbringings,” Paul said. “I think this is quite an honour and I do hope that people take the time to look at the banners and make the connection.”

Victor worked at the Royal Bank in Kentville before enlisting in 1940. He was trained as a pilot. Victor’s plane was shot down off the coast of Norway during a mission in March 1944. His body was never found.

Arthur, a gunner in the anti-aircraft division, died of leukaemia in 1946 while Donald retired from the Armed Forces in 1972 and died in 1987.

Another of the brothers, Earl, stayed home to run the family’s White Rose gas station. He later served as the town’s mayor from 1964 to 1976.

Shawn and William travelled from New Brunswick and Paul from Prince Edward Island to take part in the ceremony.

“I think it’s important to honour the legacy of our forebearers,” Shawn said.

The banners were unveiled during a ceremony on Oct. 13 at Berwick Town Hall.

The 20 new banners join the 39 unveiled in 2025 during the first year of the program. They will be installed along Commercial and Cottage streets as quiet reminders of the freedom and opportunities people enjoy today because of the sacrifices made by men and women serving their country.

Michèle Champion felt a call do something two years ago while reading names etched in stone on local cenotaphs. She said adding more banners help preserve more stories and strengthens the connection between generations.

“In doing so, it helps ensure that the service, sacrifice, and stories of our veterans remain a visible and enduring part of our community’s history and identity,” she said.

“Their service reflected courage, duty, and commitment to others both at home and abroad.”

She said it helped shape the country and preserve the value and freedoms Canadians hold dear.

“Through the Veterans’ Banner Program, their names, faces, and stories remain visible within our community, serving as a lasting reminder of their contributions and of the impact they continue to have on the lives of those who follow.”

Brochures with biographies of the veterans will be available at town hall and Berwick and District School. They were sponsored by Veterans Affairs.

Champion said the banner program extends remembrance beyond the cenotaph.

“They put faces to the names and remind us that behind every inscription was a life of service, a family who waited, and a community forever changed.”

The banners will be located along routes students take to attend school and Champion hopes they spark conversations.

“In that moment, the past reaches into the present. A name becomes a story, a story becomes a conversation, and a legacy of service lives on for a new generation.”

Don McCumber, the immediate past president of the Royal Canadian Legion Nova Scotia Nunavut Command, said the banners play a crucial role in preserving the past.

“They turn history into something personal,” he said.

“Instead of simply reading a name in a history book, a young person can look at a face and realize that they were someone’s grandfather or father, mother, brother, sister, friend – most importantly a Canadian who served our country.”

Berwick Mayor Mike Trinacty thanked the program’s organizers and said it has “brought a huge sense of pride to our community.”

Champion said the community embraced the program and veterans and their families entrusted them with their stories. She recalled a moment while photographing the banners last year.

“A gentleman stopped, pointed to one of them, and proudly said, ‘That’s my Dad,’” she said.

“Seeing the pride he felt in having his father’s service recognized was a powerful reminder of why this program matters and how deeply these banners connect people to their families, their history, and their community.”

Debra Fredericks grew up in Somerset and now lives in North Alton.

She served 33 years with the Royal Canadian Navy, retiring in 2024. An exemplary nursing officer, Fredericks was posted across the country, served overseas and in the United States.

Being honoured by her hometown meant the world to her.

“Wow,” she said, describing the emotions of the day. “Overwhelming, grateful, honoured, humbling – all those wrapped up. It still really hasn’t sunk in.”

Fredericks thought about her family and the support they provided her throughout her career during the ceremony. She spent the day of the banner unveiling reflecting.

“It just brings back a lot of memories; a lot of gratitude for those that came before us, and members who are still serving, and for all the living veterans – it’s an honour to be part of that group.”

She was selected to be the nurse sentry during the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa in 2021.

Another living veteran, Robert Havelock Lockhart, was also honoured at the ceremony.

The New Minas native served with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry. He was wounded twice and left the army in July 1952.

He now lives at the Soldier’s Memorial Veterans Unit in Middleton.

Lockhart’s banner and that of Herbert R. Parsons were the first to be installed. They are located in front of town hall.

Parsons was barely 14 when he enrolled in February 1915 in Newfoundland. Seven months later and some 6,000 kilometres from home, he went ashore at Sulva Bay, on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, at 4 a.m. on Sept. 20, 1915.

He was evacuated out of Gallipoli after contracting severe enteric due to the conditions in the trenches. He was reunited with his regiment in Scotland.

“After the war ended, grandfather returned to Newfoundland and was discharged on the 14th of April, 1919, after having served a total of 1,610 days in uniform or, simply put another way, all of his teenage years,” Doug Butt said.

Parsons’s daughter met her husband at school. He later worked for the Bank of Montreal and they were transferred to Nova Scotia.

Butt attended Kings County Academy and Acadia University before serving 37 years as a personnel officer with the services at large.

He said it meant a lot to see his grandfather honoured among the other veterans in Berwick.

“So on the banner that you will see shortly, is the face of a young soldier who travelled far from home to serve his King and country as best he could,” he told the crowd. “My grandfather, Herbert R. Parsons, a 14-year-old lad from St. John’s, Newfoundland, who answered the call and shouldered a man’s burden of sacrifice and selflessness during World War One.”

Twenty veterans were honoured Oct. 13 as banners were unveiled that will be displayed along Berwick’s Commercial and Cottage streets. The veterans are:

Earl Frederick Arenburg

Hedley Morse Banks

Howard Allison Bower

Maurice William Bower

John H. Charlton

Debra Fredericks

Matthew (Jack) Hiltz

Kenneth Robert Lee

Willis Hilson Lloyd

Robert Havelock Lockhart

Russell Elwood Morse

Herbert R. Parsons

Arthur Lloyd Robinson

Donald Gordon Robinson

Victor Thomas Robinson

Kenneth Raymond Salsman

Guilford A. Saunders

Ritson Eugene Sawler

John H. Skinner

Garnet O. West