Soldiers, generals, doctors and nurses: the battlefields of the the First and Second World Wars were made up of hundreds of these individuals who fought, cared for the wounded and showed leadership before, during and after the action.
Last fall, Dean Pagnotta wrote about these men and women who fought for Canada, each carrying out “a brave and heartfelt job,” he wrote in a 335-word essay.
“All of the Canadian soldiers that died gave their today for our tomorrow, so we can live safely and freely for the rest of our lives,” he wrote.
Earlier this year, Dean won first place in two categories in the Royal Canadian Legion’s annual essay-writing and artwork competition for Remembrance Day — on Nov. 11, students are invited to submit original works of writing and art in honour of Remembrance Day.
The Grade 6 student at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School placed first in his grade at his school for both the essay he wrote and the poster he created. He would then go on to place first in the Legion’s zone level, then second at the district level for both creations.
His poster depicts a soldier facing away and saluting, with his body segmented into various tableaus: rows of white crosses in a military graveyard, a poppy wreath, the National War Monument in Ottawa, Canadian flags waving over the Highway of Heroes, and more.
Beside the soldier are six words in bold black lettering: “All gave some … some gave all.”
In his essay, titled “Why We Remember,” Dean wrote about all the people who served on the frontlines of both World Wars, the trauma they endured, the pain their families experienced waiting for them to come home and the importance of remembrance in order to prevent destructive wars like those from returning.
The Grade 6 student said he enjoys reading and writing, so when the opportunity to take part in this contest arose, he decided to share some of what he knew about Remembrance Day in his work.
“When I learned about it in school, I was like, ‘Well, that’s really terrible that all of these things happened,'” he said. “It inspired me to learn more about it, because I wanted to deeply understand what was happening and how we can resolve these things so they don’t happen again.”
Dean said getting this far in the competition is special to him.
“This is the first time that I’ve really progressed this far in this contest because I’ve been competing in it since Grade 3,” he said. “This means a lot because it took me this long to get here and now that I have, it just feels amazing.”
His mother, Amanda Pagnotta, said she’s quite proud of her son, but doesn’t want to take credit for his success.
“Generally, we just try to do our best to teach him how to be a good person,” he said. “He has a good head on his shoulders.”
