VALLEY - The good news for Curtis Faulkner is that Veterans Affairs Canada has designated 2013 as the Year of the Korean War Veteran.
"I'm pleased with that. I'm honoured with that. I'm really honoured, you know."
The sad news, from his perspective, however, is that nearly two years since he began trying to get a proper designation on the Truro Cenotaph for local soldiers killed during the Korean War, nothing has changed.
"I want them to get the attention they deserve," the Korean War veteran said, of local buddies killed in that action.
"Those men died screaming."
Faulkner's issue is with the fact that the names on the cenotaph of local soldiers who died during the Korean War appear to be included along with others who were killed in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.
And he believes their sacrifices are as worthy as anyone else killed in battle and therefore they deserve to be properly recognized.
Concern expressed by Faulkner and fellow Korean War veteran Jim Matheson has led to meetings with the town of Truro's Heritage Advisory Committee, which recently submitted a recommendation to town council to develop an interpretative panel to the Cenotaph "to better explain its role and significance" by pointing out such key elements as the conflicts involved and the placement and significance of included names.
Faulkner, however, questions who will actually stop to read and absorb what such a panel is all about and believes in this case, a simple plaque containing the names of the local soldiers who died during the Korean War, would suffice.
"We just wanted a plaque. We were satisfied with a nice bronze plaque like ... the Afghan boys have got, placed somewhere on or near the Cenotaph," he said, of other soldiers who died in action during the more recent war in Afghanistan.
"Do these people realize that these (boys) were heroes, the same as the Afghanistan boys?" he asked.
"All I want is to see is them boys in Truro get their respected place. That's all I want to see because them men need to be respected."
