Legion Magazine’s postcards for the troops campaign has taken off, with schools and individuals contacting the magazine’s office asking for more.

The idea for the postcards emerged when Editor Dan Black was putting together a feature package for the November/December issue on letters written by serving members of the military from the First World War through the Second World War, the Korean War and postwar operations including Afghanistan. The feature contained many original letters collected by Library and Archives Canada as well as side stories on how the letters were delivered and replies received from Gladys Osmond of Newfoundland who has written thousands of letters to Canadian Forces members serving all over the world.

Three bilingual postcards were included in the issue featuring animal characters. The postcards have been printed with the Canadian Forces address that will see the card distributed to those serving in Afghanistan. All the sender needs to do is to write a note, place a stamp on the card and drop it in a mailbox.

The magazine did an overrun of the postcards for the issue so that extra postcards could be given away to groups requesting them. Approximately 1,000 postcards had been requested by the first three weeks of the issue’s publication.

“Students enjoy participating in campaign such as this,” said teacher Shelley Knott of Mayerthorpe Junior/Senior High School in Mayerthorpe, Alta. “Sending postcards to the troops in Afghanistan allows them to make a big difference as a small group. It fits in with what we are trying to teach about the importance of fostering teamwork and local action with a global result.”

The campaign also caught the attention of Stephen Monaghan, a member of Whitby, Ont., Branch. “I’m a Legion member. I saw those postcards in the magazine and thought it would be a great idea for my daughter’s class,” he said.

Monaghan’s daughter, Jessica, is a Grade 4 student at Captain Paul VanderBos Public School in a French immersion course. The school has an added interest in the military since it is named after a local man who joined the Canadian Forces’ Snowbirds aerial demonstration team and died in a training accident south of Moose Jaw, Sask.

Monaghan ordered 30 postcards, enough for teacher Jason Trinier’s class with some left over. “Of course all the [messages on the] postcards are written in French,” said Monaghan who was sending the package to the Belleville address along with his own note encouraging soldiers to write back to the school.

General Manager Jennifer Morse said she hopes the campaign will give a boost to the magazine’s newsstands sales of about 6,000 an issue. Legion Magazine has been available at selected newsstands since May.