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Every Remembrance Day for the last eight years, someone has been placing a Canadian flag on the front lawn of a Kitchener, Ont., home.
The home of Bailey Binns-Franchetto and her husband is in the St. Mary’s area of the city — an area designated as a heritage district for the number of post-Second World War homes built there.
“We were thinking at the time it was maybe the city or someone from the street who just sort of goes around and puts the little Canadian flags on the garden lawn,” said Binns-Franchetto.
But last year was the first time she noticed that her home was the only one getting a flag every Nov. 11.
It wasn’t until this past Remembrance Day that the family’s security camera caught the moment the flag was planted.
In the video, a man who uses a cane and appears to be wearing an army uniform stands at the bottom of the driveway and places the flag on the front lawn. He then stands up and salutes the house. Shortly after, he starts walking away.
WATCH | Security camera footage catches man placing flag on Kitchener lawn:
Mystery man places flag and salutes Kitchener home on Remembrance Day
A Kitchener family is trying to piece together who is planting a flag on their front lawn every Remembrance Day. The owner of the Second World War-era home in the St. Mary’s neighbourhood captured the moment this year on their security camera. The video appears to show a man dressed in a soldier’s uniform and using a cane put the flag on the lawn and then salute the house.’A heart-warming moment’
“It was just such a heart-warming moment,” said Binns-Franchetto.
“It looks like a veteran who kind of came to give a moment of solitude or respect to probably someone who had lived here before … And it was such a beautiful moment to capture that he’s been silently coming for all these years and doing that.”
Bailey Binns-Franchetto saved a cloth flag that was placed on her lawn last Remembrance Day. (Bailey Binns-Franchetto)Neighbourhood has rich history
The St. Mary’s neighbourhood was “built to provide low-cost, affordable rental housing to soldiers returning from [the Second World War],” said Michelle Drake, senior heritage planner with the City of Kitchener.
Dozens of homes were built there after it was believed there would be a post-war housing crisis. Drake said 210 homes were put up between 1946 and 1948.
“There was an additional development after that … we now have 235.”
It would be nice to know who he is and why he comes.- Bailey Binns-Franchetto, owner of home where Canadian flag’s been mysteriously planted every Nov. 11
Drake said while she doesn’t have specific details about past owners, in many cases, “those houses continued to be lived in by veterans and their families for decades.”
That leaves Binns-Franchetto wondering what the past connection this mystery veteran has to her home, as she only knows the most recent owner’s name.
While she respects it is a private moment for him, she would love to meet him.
“It would be nice to know who he is and why he comes,” said Binns-Franchetto.
“I’d love if he ever is feeling inclined to share the story that I hope someone who knows him or he sees [the video] and maybe he comes forward someday and wants to say, ‘Hi.’”
LISTEN | CBC K-W’s Joe Pavia explains mysterious flag at Kitchener home:
The Morning Edition – K-W4:49Kitchener woman hopes to solve mystery of who puts a flag on her lawn each November
For the last eight years, a Canadian flag has been left on the front lawn of Bailey Binns-Franchetto’s home in the historic St. Mary’s neighbourhood of Kitchener. CBC K-W’s Joe Pavia looked into it to help to unwrap this mystery.