A 91-year-old New Brunswick veteran thought he might have to spend this Remembrance Day without his medals after they were stolen from his home this summer.
But that won’t be the case for retired lieutenant-colonel Alan Kennedy.
While they aren’t the originals, the replicas — made possible by the effort of a fellow veteran and kindness of a local business owner — will be pinned over his heart on Nov. 11.
David Hughes, a retired captain and now the manager of the New Brunswick Military History Museum, arranged to have the set made.
“For a soldier to not have his medals on Remembrance Day, that’s a stab in the heart,” Hughes said.
Hughes said soldiers identify as such for their whole lives, whether they’re serving or not.
91-year-old veteran given replica medals after originals stolen
Kennedy was a soldier for his entire adult life, and so were his friends.
His original medals were stolen on July 9, when three people broke into his home in Nasonworth. He said the individuals tied him to a chair with zip ties and took off with a large sum of money and many of his military keepsakes, including his medals.
The RCMP West District community crime reduction unit is still seeking information about the home invasion. The suspects are described as two men and a woman, all tall and thin, wearing face coverings.
Kennedy said his house is full of things he had collected from travelling around the world.
“I wasn’t frightened as such,” he said. “I was very concerned that they were taking things I had.”
Alan Kennedy, left, received his replacement medals from David Hughes of the New Brunswick Military History Museum. (Submitted by David Hughes)
When Hughes learned what happened, helping Kennedy became his mission. When he found out official replacements from the military would be a long process and Remembrance Day was fast approaching, he looked to a local business for help.
Hughes went to see Michela Amato at Michela’s Medal Mounting in Oromocto and started telling her what had happened.
Amato told Hughes she had already heard about Kennedy’s story, Hughes recalled, and she offered to make the replica set free of charge.
“Just great kindness and humanity on her part,” Hughes said.
The medals were finished a couple of weeks ago and Hughes presented them to Kennedy in front of some of his veteran friends.
“It was the one little thing that I could do for him,” Hughes said. “It felt really good.”
Kennedy said the replicas “look exactly like the real ones.”
The replica set made for Alan Kennedy includes the officer of the Order of Military Merit and the Canadian Forces’ Decoration with two clasps for 32 years of service. (Submitted by New Brunswick Military History Museum)
The set reflects a career that began in the artillery and took him through the Black Watch, one of Canada’s oldest and most distinguished infantry regiments, along with the Royal Canadian Regiment and the Canadian Airborne Regiment.
The set includes his officer of the Order of Military Merit, a medal for his two tours of Cyprus, a United Nations medal for his time as a military observer in India and Pakistan, and his Canadian Forces’ Decoration with two bars for 32 years of service.
Kennedy has worn his medals every Remembrance Day for years and this year will be no exception.
