A little-known historical display in Walkerton has had another successful run.
The “Honour A Hero” display at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 102 has been running for 10 years — thanks to the efforts of Legion member Clarence Kieffer and his collection of thousands of military artifacts and memorabilia.
The last day for display is today.
Kieffer says his display begins with the 32nd Bruce Battalion, the first infantry unit in Bruce County, through to the 160th Bruce Battalion in World War One, and then World War Two, Korea, and Afghanistan.
Among the interesting items in the collection are a battlefield bathtub, landmine detector, dozens of uniforms, photos, and badges.
There is also a display of the names and photos of all 133rd Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.
Kieffer says the idea of the display is to show students from local schools and help them understand what veterans went through in the past, what they go through today, and the sacrifices they make.
He says kids are really interested, they don’t always know the artifacts and he tries to have some fun getting them to solve the mystery of what things were used for.
Kieffer says older visitors are often able to help identify the names of people in the old photos.
Kieffer’s interest in military history started with members of his family who served in both world wars, he started collecting items and putting them in window displays each year in downtown stores.
When he ran out of window space, the display moved to the legion.
Kieffer takes a week off work each November before Remembrance Day to run the display, he keeps the items stored away for the rest of the year.
He hopes funding is available in the next few years to make it into a permanent museum.