Alexander Friesen holding his third placed poem 'The Unsung Heroes' from the 2022 Royal Canadian Legion Literacy and Posters contest

By Erika Rolling

Remembrance Day

Local Grade 12 student to be recognized on Remembrance Day for nationally ranked poem

Nov 8, 2022 | 12:43 PM

A 17-year-old from Grande Prairie will be receiving recognition for his poem wrote in memory of his great-grandfather Henry Thomas Allingham, who was a World War II veteran, this Remembrance Day.

Alexander Friesen’s poem The Unsung Heroes was submitted for the Royal Canadian Legion’s Literacy and Posters contest last year in the Seniors Division and won third place nationally.

Alex says he decided to write about his great-grandfather to honor him.

“From his stories about the war, he never really told any of the fighting… never any of the bad stories. He only tried to tell the good ones that aren’t so sad, because I think there were a lot of things that he experienced that were pretty horrible and traumatic.”

“It’s important that we remember them and what they did, the sacrifices that they made,” he says.

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Alex is currently in Grade 12 and has submitted another poem for his final entry in the Royal Canadian Legion’s Literacy and Posters contest for 2023.

“It’s a time of reflection, it’s a very important time… I don’t think a lot of people really see it as important and pass it off; don’t think much about it… we really have to remember the sacrifices that a lot of people made for us,” he says about Remembrance Day.

Alex says many of his own family members are veterans, like many Canadians, “I don’t want them to be forgotten… I don’t think anybody should be forgotten… especially with what they did.”

Alex is to receive accreditation for his poem ranking third nationally in the Literacy contest during Remembrance Day ceremonies held by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #54 on the 11.

The Unsung Heroes can be read below:

The Unsung Heroes by Alexander Friesen