Huron Expositor, 2007-06-06, Page 11The Huron Expositor • June 6, 2007 Page 11
Frank Phillips keeps Seaforth history alive, one display at a time
Aaron Jacklin
A new display devoted to the
Seaforth Collegiate Cadet Corp.
was put on display at the
Seaforth Legion recently.
The display was put together
by Legion member Frank
Phillips.
"I don't know if it's a labour of
love or not," he says. "Maybe stu-
pidity"
Gwen Harburn, Seaforth
Legion president and sports offi-
cer, says that Phillips has put
together all the displays for the
Legion.
Phillips says he has fun doing
it.
He's been putting these dis-
plays together for the last 35
years or so and notes that with-
out the help of the other Legion
members, he would have never
been able to do it.
The display is made up of a
cadet rifle; a cadet uniform worn
in 1930 by Frank Case and
Frank Sills; an award from the
Cadet Camp Championships in
1921; an award for a musketry
competition that Seaforth won in
1904, 1906 and 1912; a picture of
two medals Cadet Alvin "Pork"
Hoff won in 1941 for marksman-
ship and three photos of cadets
taken in 1904, 1930 and 1962.
Phillips says the musketry
award was found
in a dumpster by
the high school in
Wingham. The
other two awards
were dropped off by
people anonymous-
ly to the Legion.
"This is all stuff
people would've
thrown out," he
says.
Phillips says
Alvin Hoff's marks-
manship medals
were "found recent-
ly in a drawer in
his home."
The display went
up over the winter,
but Phillips says
the items had been
coming in for five
Aaron Jacklin photo
Gwen Harburn, president and sports officer of the Seaforth Legion,
poses with the Seaforth Collegiate Cadet Corp. display put together
by Frank Phillips.
years before that.
He says the cadets, which dis-
banded around 1962, had a long
history in Seaforth. While they
had shrunk to just the rifle team
by the time he went to high
school in the late 30s, they were
around long before that.
They were around off and on
between the 1900s and the early
60s, depending on who was
around to run them.
Phillips' started making dis-
plays for the Legion after touring
the jail house museum in
Goderich, where he came across
a uniform once worn by Alec
Muir, a Seaforth veteran who
had been wounded in the First
World War.
"It was just hanging on a hang-
er," Phillips' says.
He decided the uniform should
be on display in Seaforth instead
of Goderich.
"I raised hell and got it brought
to Seaforth, with Alec's permis-
sion," he says.
Whitney-Ribey Funeral Home
A Family Owned Business Since 1975
87 Goderich St. W., Seaforth 519-527-1390
Ross W. Ribey - Funeral Director
www.whitneyribe funeraihome.com
Agent for: STRATFORD MEMORIALS LTD.
The mannequin that now
displays the uniform is the
first one he built.
He builds the showcases
that house the displays in his
workshop.
Canada's military history is
a subject close to Phillips'
heart. He joined the army in
1939 and transferred to the
Royal Canadian Air Force in
1941.
In the army, he was a
sergeant and a small arms
instructor. In the air force, he
was a gunner, `not by choice,
but because they told me to."
He served his first tour in
See LEGION, Page 31
Seaforth Manor
Retirement Residence
100 James St. Seaforth
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Monday, June 18`t' 5:00 p.m.
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