Sugar Maple
Inside this capsule: a seed of Sugar Maple — and a story of friendship that began in 1950. Drag the capsule to face its label; the QR code is real.
The flower of Canada
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The tree at the heart of Canada's flag. A maple grows slowly and stands for generations — a living monument in a single seed.
Flower meaning
The maple means strength and endurance — a tree that stands for generations and sweetens the hardest season.
Growing your seed
Free the seed from its compostable kraft shell, then give it what sugar maple asks for:
Watch it grow
Louis Bourgeois was born April 5, 1931 in Aldina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His dream was to join the Royal Canadian Air Force which he did in 1952, and he became a member of the 426 Air Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). During the Korean War, his unit provided airlift service for Canadian and U.S. troops,…
A voice from Canada’s service in Korea · More on Korean War Legacy Foundation
Canadian veterans of Korea worked for decades to see their war remembered, and Korea has answered — welcoming them back, tending their memorials, teaching their story. A maple planted from this capsule may outlive us all; that is precisely the point.
“We Remember. We Grow Together.”
Voices from the archive
Stories from veterans, families and participants that carry the same values as the sugar maple — retold from the record, never invented.
Veterans of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, recorded their memories of Kapyong — calling artillery close, holding through the dark — in accounts preserved by Canadian oral-history projects. Korea welcomes them back through official revisit programs.
Source: Canadian Korean War oral histories
Help this archive grow
Did someone in your family serve with Canada in Korea — or were they healed, taught or befriended by those who did? Every entry is reviewed and verified with you before publication.
Share a story1950 – 1953
Canada made one of the largest contributions among the UN Sending States, with army brigades, Royal Canadian Navy destroyers and RCAF transport squadrons serving throughout the war. At Kapyong in April 1951, the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry held its hilltop position through the night against overwhelming attacks, earning a US Presidential Unit Citation. Canadians continued to serve in Korea after the armistice, standing watch over the fragile peace.
Historical passages are written with care and without invented figures; details still under review are marked for verification before print.
Canada's identity is bound to its landscape — the maple, the long winter, the spring thaw. Its soldiers brought that northern steadiness to Korea's mountains, and its people still mark remembrance with quiet ceremony rather than spectacle. The maple seed, with its paired wings, travels far from the tree that made it: a fitting emblem for a friendship carried across an ocean.
Why the Sugar Maple
The tree at the heart of Canada's flag. A maple grows slowly and stands for generations — a living monument in a single seed.