Wendy Thienes
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Shaunavon Standard
If you’ve visited a cemetery in Canada, you may have noticed headstones that are uniform in design with a maple leaf insignia at the top.
In Saskatchewan, there are 215 cemeteries containing 917 of these headstones which commemorate the war dead of World Wars I & II.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is the caretaker of these graves.
The CWGC Canadian office has been recruiting volunteers for their National Volunteer Program which provides opportunities for the public to assist the CWGC in looking after war graves in their local areas. The program focus is on the monitoring and cleaning of our scattered war graves across Canada and plays a key role in supporting the work of the Operations Team who can be directed to the areas of greatest need. The minimum commitment for volunteers is to visit and inspect at least one war grave twice a year.
CWGC was first established as the Imperial War Graves Commission by Royal Charter in May 1917. Its founding principles are: each of the Commonwealth dead should be commemorated by name on a headstone or memorial; headstones and memorials should be permanent; headstones should be uniform; there should be equality of treatment for the war dead irrespective of rank or religion.
The CWGC commemorates the Commonwealth war dead of the two World Wars by maintaining records of the dead and caring for their graves and memorials in perpetuity.
The CWGC cares for the graves and memorials of 1.7 million Commonwealth First and Second World War servicemen and women who died between: 4 August 1914 – 31 August 1921 and 3 September 1939 – 31 December 1947.
CWGC works in over 23,000 locations around the world in over 150 countries and territories, working on behalf of six member governments: Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, France, South Africa and the United Kingdom. In Canada, there are 18,500 commemorations on memorials and graves. In Saskatchewan, there are 917 markers in 215 cemeteries.
Each CWGC headstone contains a National Emblem or Regimental Badge, Service Number, Rank, Name, Unit, Date of Death, Age, Religious Symbol and possibly a Personal Inscription.
Training is provided for volunteers including safety considerations, how to inspect headstones and the surrounding area and instructions for basic cleaning if that is required in order to see the name inscription clearly.
Inspections, including photographs, are documented in an online app that volunteers can enter data into. CWGC staff are then able to identify and prioritize additional work required for graves that may be in poor repair.
Potential volunteers can reach out to capa.volunteer@cwgc.org for more information on how to become involved in the program.
