Youths turn P.E.I. veteran’s tears of sadness into tears of gratitude | CBC News

The days leading up to Remembrance Day are always an emotional time for Gayle Mueller, a veteran and vice-president of the Summerside Legion.

But this year, tears were flowing for different reasons.

Hundreds of flags she puts up every year to honour veterans at gravesites were torn down multiple times in recent weeks.

“This has just been horrible,” Mueller said. “I stood here and I cried when I looked because the day before all the flags were flying and it looked so beautiful and you just felt so honoured to be here, and then the next day, nothing.”

Mueller said she’s convinced it was vandalism.

“You can tell the way the flags are ripped off. It wasn’t weather, it wasn’t the wind. It was somebody’s hands.”

But thanks to the help of children from Generation XX, a non-profit youth centre in Summerside, Canadian flags are flying once again at St. Paul’s Cemetery, the People’s Cemetery and St. John Cemetery, where many of Mueller’s fellow soldiers are buried.

The gesture turned her tears of sadness into tears of gratitude.

“I’m so grateful. It brings me to tears, literally,” she said. “There’s a fine example of youth doing the right thing. Instead of destroying things, they repair them.”

The group spent nearly two hours putting up more flags than they could count. 

There’s a fine example of youth doing the right thing.— Gayle Mueller

“I was pretty devastated,” said Austyn MacPhee, one of the youths who helped out.

“My great-grandparents are in here. They were veterans. Two of the flags had been theirs.”

Another youth, Emilee Gill, heard what had happened and decided to do something about it. 

“Once we got here, we were like ‘Wow, this is so disrespectful.’ So we were like, ‘OK, we need to help fix this.’  So we came in and basically froze out here, while we put up flags.”

Summerside Police said they are investigating, but haven’t arrested or charged anyone. 

Legion members worry the flags could be ripped down again. If it does happen, the Generation XX youths said they’ll come back and put them up again to honour the veterans.

“They fought for our peace and our rights,” MacPhee said. “And I feel like they deserve some respect for that.”