Lest We Forget is the theme of Remembrance Day every year, where Canadian veterans are honoured and remembered at ceremonies across the country.
And members of the Vernon and District Family History Society are doing their best to make sure local veterans who have been laid to rest at Pleasant Valley Cemetery are never forgotten.
As part of its project No Stone Left Alone, the society is holding a Service of Remembrance Wednesday at the cemetery in Vernon.
“We, the Vernon and District Family History Society’s Cemetery Committee, have compiled a list of veterans in the old part of the Pleasant Valley Cemetery,” said Ted Hoyte, with the society. “This includes Boer War, First World War, Second World War and other military service personnel.
“From that list we searched Library and Archives Canada for those with complete service files accessible to the public.”
Hoyte said the list was then provided to teachers at W.L. Seaton secondary school, where students chose a name from the list to research.
“On November 2 those students (between 60 and 80 of them) will be visiting the cemetery to place a poppy on the graves of those they are researching in addition to placing a poppy on all of the 400 veterans’ graves buried in that part of the cemetery,” he said.
The service takes place Wednesday starting around 11 a.m. The Vernon Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion will be present and providing the students with a short remembrance service as well as a Colour Party.
The Vernon & District Family History Society was formed in 1982 for people in the community interested in genealogy. For more information, please email verfamhist@shaw.ca