St. Andrews students connect with Canadian soldiers

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ST. ANDREWS - A soldier from Grand Manan went all the way to Afghanistan to meet a new friend in St. Andrews.

Enlarge Photo Derwin Gowan/Telegraph-JournalVincent Massey Elementary School students, from left, Max Richards, Naomi Sullivan and Quincey Griffin with teacher’s aide Cindy Groom. Students at Vincent Massey Elementary School sent letters as part of a project to support Canadian troops in Afghanistan. A handful of students got letters back, including Naomi Sullivan whose new pen pal signed his name "Sapper O'Neill."

"I was surprised to hear that it was someone from Grand Manan," the Grade 6 student said in an interview at the school Monday - just a drive to Blacks Harbour and a trip on the ferry away.

A couple of telephone calls confirmed that Trevor O'Neill, son of Phillip and Cathy O'Neill of Grand Manan, wrote the return letter to the St. Andrews school student.

He graduated from Grand Manan High School in 1995. He fished with his father and did other work before joining the Canadian Armed Forces three years ago, his mother said Monday.

He is a combat engineer - the reason he signs his name "Sapper" O'Neill - based at CFB Gagetown until the armed forces sent him to Afghanistan in October. Combat engineers are commonly referred to as sappers.

These letters began with a school project by teacher's aide Cindy Groom.

Last year, she read a newspaper story about a project by Brenda Daigle at the New Brunswick Community College in Miramichi to send shoe-box care packages to the soldiers.

Groom decided Vincent Massey Elementary should support this project. In November, students and school staff donated items for care packages: granola bars, toiletries, candy and juice crystals, among other things.

"We had four big boxes that we filled," she said.

Students from Grades 1 to 6 each wrote a letter. The kindergarten class composed a single letter.

The letters, about 190 in all, went out with the boxes to be distributed to Canadian troops in Kandahar. They addressed the letters to "Dear Soldier." Each had a return address.

"And a few of the students got letters back from the soldiers," Groom said. "And the students were delighted, and me, too."

O'Neill wrote to Naomi about "some weird bugs that are very big" and, further, "Lizards are all over the place. They run away very fast so that we do not step on them and squish them."

He told Naomi that at least three people from Grand Manan, and one person from Deer Island, serve with Canada's forces in Afghanistan.

"I found out that over in Afghanistan it's very dangerous, and I found out in the letter that it gets pretty chilly at night," Grade 5 student Quincey Griffin said.

A soldier named John wrote the letter to Quincey, telling her the weather is "nothing like back home in New Brunswick."

"They have a Tim Hortons," Grade 4 student Max Richards said, referring to what the soldier who returned his letter wrote.

"It was like tearful to know that you can write to somebody in Afghanistan and make them happy," Naomi said. "I think it was good for me to send a letter because it feels a little weird because they don't get to come home for Christmas."

"If they are in Afghanistan I think they'll be really happy to get a letter from home and make them very happy," Max said.

Groom has ideas for other projects to support Canadian troops. "I would like to do a banner for them. I would like to do sections and have each one of them sign it," she said referring to Vincent Massey students.

She plans to do the banner project within the next month. She has another plan to send thank-you notes, and another project she is not ready to talk about yet.