ERIN – Longtime Erin Legion member Doug Kirkwood has been named the Town of Erin’s Citizen of the Year.
As part of the town’s annual Shamrock Awards, Kirkwood was selected from a pool of 47 nominees.
The award honours those who have made a significant contribution to the community during 2020-21.
“The mayor gave me a call personally,” Kirkwood told the Advertiser. “I thought he was calling me about something else, I had no idea that would be about that.
“I deal with the town a fair bit with veterans’ things and so on, so I thought it was something about the cenotaph that we were working on.”
The call was followed by an official letter from the town a few days later.
“I never really told anybody other than members of my own family,” he said. “So I guess it’s getting out there now.
“I certainly appreciate it, but I never expected it.”
Born and raised in Erin, Kirkwood now resides in Oakville.
“But it’s not exactly where I live, in fact, I guess it’s what you do for the town,” he said of his eligibility for the award despite not living in Erin.
“It’s my hometown, and I’ve kept my Legion membership in Erin all those years.”
Kirkwood has been a member with Erin Legion Branch 442 for 66 years and currently serves as service officer, dealing with veterans’ health and welfare.
Over the years, Kirkwood has collaborated on many projects with the town through his work with the Legion.
His many roles have included collaborating with the town to put new plaques on the cenotaph after noticing a number of names were missing or weren’t spelled correctly and putting up street banners and poppies on street signs named after veterans that lost their lives in the First and Second World War.
And, in 1956, when the Erin cenotaph was erected, Kirkwood was one of the honour guards at the unveiling.
“I think all those things together are probably the reason they finally put my name in there,” he said.
Kirkwood has also been involved in many other roles outside of the town, including joining the Lorne Scots Military Regiment in 1953, volunteering for St. John Ambulance and over 40 years of volunteering in the Red Cross Assembly.
“I’ve been involved in plane crashes, ice storms, floods, and so on,” he said.
“I’ve been involved with American Red Cross and floods and things down there as a training technician – I’ve always been in training of some type.
“I’ve travelled about 60 different countries in the world, and I’ve been on 17 humanitarian projects in Mexico, Central America, South America.”
Kirkwood is also the author of We Will Remember Them: The Men and Women of Erin and District – a historical book featuring Erin and district residents all the way back to the War of 1812 – which he says likely helped him claim Citizen of the Year honours.
“I think that’s what really brought it home,” he explained.
The book started in 2006 when the Legion decided it should have a booklet on its members and the history.
“I started collecting things and then it grew bigger and bigger and bigger,” he explained. “So over the years, I’ve gotten contributions from over 200 people I’ve talked to or corresponded with.
“Over the years, my wife said, ‘You’re never going to get it finished,’” he added. “But I put a push on it in 2020, and finally, finished it off – you have to stop somewhere.”
Growing up during the Second World War, Kirkwood said he remembers a lot of things about that time, which is what inspired the book.
He recalls army convoys coming through town and the stops they would make to set up a field kitchen and have lunch.
“Us young people, we’d be out there with them, and we were allowed to go to the stores, and they had to stay at the convoy, but they’d give us some money, maybe 25 or 50 cents and run down the store and buy some chocolate bars or something for them,” he explained.
“So we come back with the stuff and try to find them, or sometimes we couldn’t find them, and so that was part of the excitement.”
While he lived through those experiences, Kirkwood noted the war isn’t the main focus of the book.
“There’s thousands of books on wars,” he explained. “But it’s what the local people did, especially the women … and all these people, the effort they put into sending packages to the troops, and even making jam and so on and things like that for the veterans and sending letters back and forth.”
Other recipients of the 2020-21 Shamrock Awards include:
- Volunteer of the Year: Bayne Upton, Sid Spear, Robin Brooks, Deanna McKay and Jay Mowat; and
- Business of the Year Award: Erin Fitness.
The awards ceremony will be held April 20 from 6 to 8pm at Erin Centre 2000 Theatre.
