Moncton senior, inspired by veteran father, collecting war memorabilia to preserve history

A Moncton senior has been collecting war memorabilia in her community in hopes of keeping the memories of fallen war veterans alive.

Inspired by her grandmother who used to knit socks for the soldiers and by her father who served at Vimy Ridge, 88-year-old Shirley Sutherland put out a request to her fellow parishioners for war mementos to create a permanent Remembrance Day display at Highfield Street United Baptist Church.

She never dreamed that so many would answer the call

READ: Vimy Ridge memorials taking place across Canada

“I was almost embarrassed to come in because it took up so much space,” she said.

Dozens of pictures, articles and letters sent home by soldiers started pouring into the church, along with some old uniforms and other memorabilia.

“Remembrance Day means a lot to me and I knew that these picture were out there and I didn’t want them lost,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Remembrance Day means a lot to me and I knew that these picture were out there and I didn't want them lost," she said.

Her own father served as an artilleryman at Vimy Ridge and his old uniform is part of the display.

Looking at it, she said, “I want to cry.”

While her father, Ralph Dobson, survived the war and lived to be 95, he came home wounded by gas exposure and at times suffered from what was known as shell shock.

“On a couple of occasions, be insisted that my mother and my brother and I hide under the bed because the Germans are coming. He was having flash backs,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "On a couple of occasions, be insisted that my mother and my brother and I hide under the bed because the Germans are coming. He was having flash backs," she said.

She says it was her father who taught her the importance of remembering those who gave their lives for their country.

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1:55 Moncton veterans thankful for so much, including each other

Each of the New Brunswickers seen in the display with a gold star pressed against their pictures, are solider who died fighting for their country.

“Many of them lied to get in. Some of them went at 15. They lied about their age in order to go,” she said.

READ: The Battle of Hill 70: Canada’s forgotten Vimy Ridge

The pictures and memorabilia will eventually be donated to the military museum in Gagetown, so they can be preserved.

On Saturday, Sutherland says she will be sporting a poppy next to her heart to honour the man who taught her never to forget.

“I will be thinking of my dad yes, that is where my thoughts will be,” she said.