Locals honour military at fundraising event

By Hailey Trealout
The Southern Ontario Military Muster held a fundraiser March 23 to keep their doors open in order to educate the public on its local history.
The SOMM is a non-profit organization that works to preserve, educate and honour those who served in battle.
Linda Iler, the secretary for SOMM, helped organize the event and said it’s a great learning experience for younger generations.
“The event today is honouring our military,” said Iler. “Once a year we have a big open house fundraiser to raise enough money so we can stay open for the balance of the year. This year when I found out that this was the 60th anniversary of the Korean armistice, I came up with the idea to honour our military this year.”
The North Wall Riders Association, Provincial Marines, Canadian Historical Aircraft Association and the Windsor Essex Military Family Support Group all attended with unique displays.
Geoff Bottoms, the president and founder of SOMM, said the event gives people hands on opportunities with history through guns, photos and uniforms.
“It’s a great event. History in itself is something we should pay more attention to and unfortunately we don’t around here,” said Bottoms. “Today’s kids play all these war games, they get killed, they hit reset and start all over again. In real life, you get killed, you’re dead and there is no reset button. I’m not for war but its very important to talk about them and bring the history out.”
The open house followed by a dinner raised $1,400 for the SOMM.