Glendale residents Russell and Fiona Jasper know something about service. With years experience helping veterans, the Jaspers want to remind the public not to forgot the younger veterans this Remembrance Day.
“The younger ones are coming up and they need help too,” Russell said.
“You can’t see their wounds. If you’re shot in the arm, you can see it,” Fiona said, describing the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many young soldiers live with after returning from duty.
Both Russell and Fiona Jasper have spent decades canvassing for Poppy Fund donations in Calgary and both have received national recognition and awards for their years of service.
Russell said that although he hasn’t had much contact with the younger veterans, he makes an special effort to cross the generational gap and include them at veterans’ functions if they’re present.
“We try to spend time with them, make them feel that they’re one of us and they’re at home.”
However, that generational gap exists not just with age but the attitudes towards awareness of veterans’ hardships, Fiona related in a hopeful tone.
“The younger generation is more aware than my generation,” she said, adding the greatest awareness represents a change from her generation, the “Baby Boomers,” who did not discuss a lot of the hardships of veterans.
Russell and Fiona have long and storied involvements in taking care of veterans.
Russell, 95-year-old Royal Canadian Air Force veteran and aircraft mechanic, has had a long career – servicing bullet-riddled Avro Lancasters in southern England during the Second World War, and later as provincial command president of the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans (ANAVETS) Club on the home front.
He has also raised funds to provide seniors in his community with limited means with good meals and social activities. In 1988, Russell assisted as Chairman of Volunteers for the Calgary Olympics.
His wife Fiona, a seasoned member of Unit #2 of ANAVETS has served since 1992 in various high-level positions, such as Poppy Campaign chair, Casino Committee member and chair, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, and two terms as president.
She is actively involved in organizing quarterly entertainment receptions for the veterans residing at the Colonel Belcher Hospital. Along with other members of the Ladies Auxiliary, Mrs. Jasper has been the chairperson of the Calgary Poppy Fund with donations totalling more than $53,000 in 2008.
