Former Orléans Legion president and Poppy Campaign chair, Frank Stacey, is this year’s Veteran of the Year.

Stacey served in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1957 until 1977. He joined the forces when he was just 18. He had failed Grade 12 French and was told that he would have to repeat the entire grade again. Rather than go back to school he joined the Air Force on June 7, 1957, 40 years to the day after his grandfather was killed in WWI.

After signing up for the Air Force, Stacey was trained as an electrician, first serving. He initially signed up for the Air Force and was trained as an electrician. After taking his electrician courses at CFB Borden he was posted to Cold Lake, Alberta where he met his future wife Lynne Stacey. There was just one problem, she was an officer and he was an ordinary airman.

Despite their difference in rank and the fact that they weren’t supposed to be fraternizing with each other, they fell in love and in order to get married, one of them had to leave the forces.

In the end, Lynne resigned her commission and stayed on with forces as a civilian physiotherapist and they’ve been married ever since.

After Cold Lake, Frank was transfered to the Canadian Air Force base in Zweibrücken Germany.

From Zweibrücken, he was transferred to Gimli, Manitoba and then Penhold, Alberta where he switched from electrician to air conditioning and refrigeration technician, servicing radar sites across Canada.

In 1977, Frank and Lynne, who had started a family by then, moved to Ottawa where Frank was posted at the DND Medical Centre off Smyth Road.

The couple bought a house together in Queenswood Heights, which was a brand new sub-division back then, where they still live in to this day.

After a couple of years at the DND Medical Centre, Frank was made the site supervisor at CFB Carp, more commonly known as the Diefenbunker, which was still operational at the time. He served there for a year and a half before finally retiring from the military in 1983.

During his 27 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, Frank was never involved in an armed conflict. The closest he came was in 1978 when he was sent to Lebanon to fix several refrigeration units for the French peacekeepers. During a sightseeing outing with a fellow member of the Canadian Armed Forces who was sent with him to act as his interpreter, the vehicle they were traveling in was stopped by a 14-year-old with an AK47 and they were briefly taken prisoner.

Frank recalls being held at gunpoint and every time he moved a muscle, the teenager would move the gun as if he was about to shoot him.

Fortunately, the driver of the jeep was able to use the radio microphone to signal the nearest base for help and an armoured personnel carrier with several French peace-keepers in it came to their rescue.

After leaving the military, Frank became an active member of the Orléans Legion and was president of the Legion in the 90s. He was also chairman of the Orléans Legion’s Poppy Campaign.

Being this year’s Veteran of the Year is an honour for him.

“It’s a real honour to be able to represent all of my fellow veterans and their families,” says Stacey, who will be attending his 40th Remembrance Day ceremony on Monday since leaving the Armed Forces.