

Web Staff, cp24.com





An 84-year-old veteran and two volunteers in their sixties took on an armed robber at an east end Legion, chasing and tacking an armed man who tried to rob them as they counted money from poppy sales.

The assailant approached the men just after noon at Royal Canadian Legion branch on Robinson Avenue, near Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road. They were counting about $10,000 in poppy money at the time.

Second World War Veteran John Dietsch grabbed the man’s arm and refused to give him the money. He told CP24 that he couldn’t bear the thought of losing the funds they’d worked so hard to collect over recent weeks.

“Because of the time we served in the military and the fact that we’d been out all last week counting money for poppies, that’s what made me react,” he said. “I thought, ‘You’re not getting away with that.’”

The suspect pushed the Dietsch away but was then tackled by a Legion volunteer, Earl Gray, who is in his sixties. The thief managed to get away, but escaped empty-handed.

Dietsch’s daughter works at the Legion. She says she wasn’t surprised but couldn’t be more proud.

Police are looking for a man in his late twenties.