When Coquitlam Legion branch president Bob Chapman was in the Okanagan Falls this spring, he noticed the side of its Legion hall was being decorated.
Maple Ridge artist Laura Johnson was creating a tribute to the veterans, with waving flags, a soldier’s silhouette and fighter vehicles.
Impressed, Chapman commissioned Johnson to create a similar image in Coquitlam to be ready for Nov. 11.
Drawing on a scene from high school, she worked her donated Behr paints to make iconic symbols for Remembrance Day: a field of tall red poppies, the Vimy Ridge monument, a soldier kneeling before the graves of comrades fallen in WWI, WWII and the Afghanistan war — with the sun rising and the words “Lest We Forget” at the top.
The poppies “represent the vastness of the sacrifice,” Johnson told The Tri-City News yesterday (Thursday), noting the new mural has created excitement in the Austin Heights neighbourhood.
