Last Post Fund seeks tips about unmarked veteran graves
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on brandonsun.com
- Read the Brandon Sun E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
*Your next Free Press subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
The Last Post Fund is asking Westman residents to submit tips about unmarked graves of war veterans.
As Remembrance Day approaches, the organization, which aims to ensure that no veteran is denied a dignified funeral and burial, seeks to raise awareness about the need for headstones at veterans’ graves, Matthew Halpin, Manitoba branch president of the Last Post Fund, told the Sun in a recent interview. The organization hopes to elicit help from the public to narrow its search in the area, he said.
“We are just looking to advise the public, that if they’re aware of anyone, a relative, a friend, a citizen within the community, it doesn’t matter if it’s Flin Flon, or across the province, to give us a call,” Halpin said. “Unless the public comes forward … it makes it very difficult to find those individuals or come across any of those plots that may contain a veteran that has no marker.”
George MacKay volunteers in Brandon with the Last Post Fund to review cemetery lists and compare names to military records. He said it’s a worthwhile effort to discover the veterans who have been buried without a distinguishing marker. (Supplied)
Halpin encourages the public to phone the organization and provide tips. Narrowing the effort allows researchers with the Last Post Fund to focus on select cases, compared to their normal effort where they fan through lists at cemeteries and compare names to military records. Two volunteers in Brandon research cemetery lists.
“It can be a very long process.,” Halpin said.
Halpin said the organization wants to increase awareness because when the public knows the organization exists, it will increase the tips coming in.
The program is funded for roughly 1,000 headstones per year he said. The headstones are a standard make, similar to headstones in a field of honour, he said.
The national Remembrance Day represents a good time to do something positive for veterans, he said.
“In that light, maybe this is the time we should think about some of the veterans that are out there that don’t have headstones, and those we can do something about,” he said. “To be quite honest, a lot of them get forgotten.”
Halpin noted that in October, he learned that a veteran man who is buried in Carberry will have a dedicated headstone created that recognizes his military service.
“I just got word from our national office … (this man) who has been buried without a headstone since 1971 … they’re going to put forward an order to create his headstone and then have it delivered to Carberry.”
This comes after Halpin put forward an application to create the headstone two years ago, he said. The veteran’s name is William Wallace Wellington Baker, Halpin said.
The Last Post Fund also aims to have a memorial bench installed in the Brandon military cemetery before the snow flies, he said.
George MacKay, a volunteer in Brandon, said he is currently working through the ‘M’ surnames of people buried at the Brandon Mental Health Centre. He and a co-volunteer worked alphabetically through the list of buried people and are comparing the names to Canada’s records of people who served in several wars, he said.
Matthew Halpin, retired Lt.-Col. with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Halpin is the Manitoba branch president for the Last Post Fund. (Supplied)
“It’s a long, drawn out affair,” he said. “We’ve probably submitted three or four submissions for headstones up there to date, in the last couple years.”
MacKay said that he spends a few hours each week volunteering for the project; he has been working through records for three years, with a total of roughly 1,700 names to consider, he said. He believes it’s a good use of time because it recognizes selfless contributions from Canadians in the past, he said.
“I just thought it was a good cause. This is kind of the last hoorah for veterans that have been buried in cemeteries. A lot have maybe been forgotten about, or their family or friends didn’t have money to have a headstone or some kind of marker placed for them,” he said. “It just kind of caught a chord with myself. I just thought they need to be recognized somehow. If there’s some way I can help, I’d like to do it.”
MacKay said he has seen two headstones placed on graves — one in Birtle, and one in Minnedosa — since he started volunteering.
“That was important, especially to Laura,” MacKay said, referring to his co-volunteer, “because she did all the research for those two individuals. To see some proof of the labour was really worthwhile,” he said. “That definitely keeps you going.”
They have submitted applications for roughly six headstones in the Westman area, he said.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com