Centenarian Veteran and Cartoonist Honored

Ernie Poignant was born a few months after the end of World War 1, which made him of age to serve in World War 2. Today, a few months shy of his 101st birthday, Ernie was a guest of honor at Remembrance Day ceremonies.

A legendary cartoonist and Second World War veteran came back to his former home town Monday to take in this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Ernie Poignant took the final salute as veterans marched past the podium on 224th Street in downtown Maple Ridge at the end of the formalities.

Poignant turned 100 this year and made the trip from his current residence in Abbotsford.

“It’s beyond words. It humble’s me so much,” Poignant said this week of his ceremonial duties.

He served in the Canadian army from 1944 to 1946, with postings in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, and in late 1944, in Camp Borden near Barrie, Ont. His duties there included exploding mortars during training exercises which permanently damaged his hearing.

After the war, he started his journalism career, and in 1958, moved to Maple Ridge as compositor and cartoonist for the Maple Ridge Gazette. He moved to Abbotsford in 2003 and continued drawing cartoons for the Abbotsford Times and worked with the local museum, turning the stories of pioneers into cartoons.

In 1994, many of his cartoons were printed in a booklet called People, Pencil and Paper, when he was 75. He published another in 2013, titled Poignant Moments. While he’s now 100 years old, Poignant is still producing, this year publishing his third book, “Welcome to the Past.”

BC Local News carries the story.

Issuu has Ernie’s Poignant Moments online, a nice look at some of Ernie’s cartoons.

 

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