Kelowna Christian School grade 9 student Finn Campbell recently found out that he received second place at the Federal level in the Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Writing Contest.
Campbell finished second in the province last year, writing about his great-great uncle's experience in World War II in Italy. This year, Campbell finished first in the province, writing about his great-great grandfather's harsh experiences at Vimy Ridge, the Somme, and Passchendaele. These experiences impacted him until he died in 1977. Finn’s work then moved to the national level, being judged amongst entries from the 1350 Legion Branches in Canada, where he found out he placed second.
While his provincial win was announced in February, the national awards were announced this past month.
Finn is grateful that he was able to share his family's story. Finn visited Vimy Ridge, Beaumont Hamel, and the Somme this past Summer and was struck by how young so many soldiers were and how many died. To quote Finn, "Knowing that so many friends fought together, only a little older than me and died in such a short amount of time at Beaumont Hamel was very hard to process; it is so sad. Also, driving through the Somme and seeing thousands of graves for hundreds of kms along the roads reminded me of the great loss that so many families experienced. On one day alone, 20,000 British soldiers died in battle. I can share the stories of only one soldier, but so many more stories need to be told".
I am Finn's father, and I want to commend our local legion branch for their fantastic work in creating awareness through this contest. Finn and my daughter Coby have been recipients of prizes from the local Legion for the past three years. Finn is at the point now where he feels that the seniors running the Legion are like family. When he discovered he was recognized at the national level, Finn was more excited to visit the Legion and share than he was about receiving prize money. To quote Finn, "the people at the Legion make me feel like family; they are always so excited about our writing and our art, they care about me. I hope to have many meals at the legion with them, and I want to thank them all for letting me share my stories".
Finn’s piece will be displayed in the foyer of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa during the annual Remembrance period in November.
You can see Finn’s piece here:
https://lnfcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/200809_Winners_2022Final.pdf