Forgotten WW II plaque finds new home, new meaning at Miramichi high school

Ambury Jarvis was 31-years-old when his Lancaster bomber was shot down over Nuremberg, Germany on Feb. 25, 1943.

His mother, Annie and sisters, Kit and Inez took the news of losing their only son and brother hard.

Peter Stuart said his mother, Kit never stopped grieving for the uncle he only knew through family stories and pictures.

"My mother couldn't make it through a Remembrance Day service without tearing up," said Stuart.

On Thursday, Stuart was able to catch a glimpse of the man his uncle was during a Remembrance Day service at Miramichi Valley High School in Miramichi.

In a touching ceremony, Jarvis was brought to life by Grade 12 students from the theatre arts class.

Some Miramichi Valley High School students acted out a WW II soldier's life

7 years ago

Duration 0:39

Ambury Jarvis' name, along with 38 others killed during WW II, was found on a long-forgotten plaque in the former high school he attended in the former town of Newcastle, N.B. The plaque found a new home at MVHS and students decided to find out who the men on the plaque were.

As he looked on, Stuart watched Nathan MacDiarmid play the role of his uncle, acting out parts of his life in a short play the students wrote based on a family biography they had received.

It was a family reunion of sorts with Lauren McCabe playing his mother, a young Kit, Annaka Fournier playing his grandmother, and Isabel Ramos acting the part of his aunt Inez.

A home for a plaque

The story of how Jarvis's story came to be a part of the high school's service began almost a year earlier. Chris Matheson, a Canadian history and theatre arts teacher, began wondering what was going to happen to a plaque listing the names of Harkin High School graduates that had been killed during the Second World War.

"I had this image of the plaque hanging on the wall and people forgot it was there, said Matheson.

The school was closing and numerous items were being disbursed including graduating class composites. The long-forgotten plaque had been placed in the school by the Harkins Student Association in the early 1950s. It listed 39 names including Jarvis's.

Matheson made a call to the principal who had the plaque in her office, hoping to find someone to take it.

After it was cleaned up, the plaque found a new home on a wall at MVHS. It also got Matheson and fellow teacher, Brandon Savage, curious about these men were and their stories.

Matheson posted a picture of the plaque on Facebook to let people know where it was and to see if anyone had any information about it. Both teachers said they received a lot of information about many of the men.

They also learned few knew of the plaque's existence.

Then at the start of the school year, the history department decided to use the plaque as a professional learning opportunity for the year.

Telling Ambury's story

When it came time to prepare for the school's annual Remembrance Day service, both teachers thought telling the stories of a few of the men to represent all veterans might help students feel more connected.

Another call out made on Facebook asking relatives to provide detailed information produced a few emails including one from Barb Garland, Stuart's ex-wife who had compiled a short book on Jarvis's life after her mother-in-law passed away.

"She talked about him on a daily basis, but what I know about him was on an anecdotal basis. We really didn't even know his birthdate," said Garland.

Garland said she spent the next few years tracking down any information she could including speaking to the only survivor of the plane crash who was still living and Jarvis's wartime girlfriend in London.

In her research, Garland found out Jarvis, who was in the militia from 1928 to 1941, had served overseas from 1939 to 1941 before being sent back to Canada to be an instructor.

No one knows why but Jarvis gave up his commission in the army and joined the Air Force to go back overseas.

"He could have stayed. But he chose to go back," said Garland.

Garland was pleased with the service.

"I'm thrilled," Garland said after watching the solemn ceremony. "My mother-in-law would have been so thrilled."

Represents them all

But Garland also found out about Jarvis's life before he became a soldier and before he graduated from Harkins High School in 1930.

A long conversation with a childhood friend, Bernard "Buddy" Woods revealed Jarvis's athletic abilities and his love of fruit-filled turnovers he bought each day from a bakery in downtown Newcastle.

Matheson said once the student read the story of Jarvis's life, they took right to him.

"The idea was he would represent all the names on the plaque, he would represent all veterans."

Savage said more information is being compiled on the other 38 names on the plaque.

"We see it as a venture that will go year round. We've talked about having a wall of remembrance with this information we've collected and honouring each individual in the picture. Do a Miramichi Valley memorial in a sense."

Matheson pointed out there was lots of space left around the plaque to do just that.

"I saw that quote on the plaque that we will commemorate and preserve their memory and I was just like but nobody kept doing that and I thought well, we have to."