The South Shore Tide Watch: I’ve got a job …!!

Since I was a kid, I have had an interest in WWI and WWII history, and along with that I have collected many dozens of books and documentary videos on the subject. From around the early to mid-1990’s, my interest in those wars has been focused mainly on the casualties, those buried below a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) gravestone or in the case of the missing with no known grave, the names engraved upon a CWGC memorial. I believe this focus had its beginnings during my years of family tree research, when I learned in detail much about my five known relatives killed in war.

In the years since coming to Canada in 1988, I have become increasingly more involved as a volunteer researcher, who participates in various research projects for a number of organizations, including the Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Virtual War Memorials, the Royal British Legion, the CWGC and many individuals who contact me for help in finding out more about their relatives killed in war.

In recent years, I have been invited to co-author and contribute to books, various related published articles and web-sites. My interest in this has also taken me to visit and write about individual war graves, cemeteries and memorials in Alberta, Newfoundland, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Scotland, The Netherlands, Belgium and France. Although some projects that find their way to me can be time consuming and sometimes tiring, I do continue to have a great passion for each task, always driven by the desire to give a “Lost Voice” back to a war grave or a name on a memorial.

This month, my research work has expanded into becoming a volunteer war grave inspector for the CWGC in Nova Scotia. It may not be widely known, in Canada there are 14366 war graves under the care of the CWGC at 3618 locations across the country. To qualify as a war grave or a CWGC casualty on a memorial, the serviceman or women will have died between the following dates …

WWI ~ 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921

and

WWII ~ 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947

Also to qualify, there is no requirement to have been killed due to actual enemy action. For example in Canada, a significant number of the WWI and WWII graves, could have been due to illness or injury within Canada, while serving in the military during the qualifying dates. Many others will have died due to accidents, I know of many war graves across Canada that belong aircrews who served with the RCAF, RAF, RAAF and RNZAF, and were in Canada as part of the very successful British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during WWII. In the coastal areas, mainly the Maritimes, you will find war graves of many nationalities, who served in the Merchant Navy and fell victim to German U-Boats in the Atlantic, and now lie beside members of the RCN or RN who fought in the WWII Battle of the Atlantic. In Newfoundland, there is a CWGC cemetery for Commonwealth aircrews, who were killed in aircraft accidents out of Gander, while serving with the RAF Ferry Command. There are many other casualties buried in Canada, who did in fact die as a result of direct enemy action in the conflict areas of WWI and WWII, who were sent home and later succumbed to their war-related injuries.

It is a similar scenario throughout the world in countries where you would not expect to find a war grave. The CWGC has a global footprint and care for graves and memorials of 1.7 million WWI and WWII servicemen and women, at 23,000 locations in 150 countries and territories. It is a huge task and one that is extremely well managed and deeply respected.

Last year, I had the privilege of being able to visit and tour the CWGC French headquarters at Beaurains, located in the heart of the former WWI Western Front. At the entrance to the building are words describing the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the CWGC) written by Rudyard Kipling..

“The single biggest bit of work since any of the pharaohs-and they only worked in one country”

Currently the volunteer program I am involved with is in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Belgium, Malta and Canada. Within Canada it has so far been rolled out in PEI, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, I believe by the end of 2025 it will be in all other provinces. More can be learned about the CWGC Volunteer Program by clicking on the following link or image ..

https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/volunteer/

My duties will be to visit the allocated war graves, initially in my local area, to check on the condition of the gravestone, ensure it is not damaged, cracked or leaning. If required clear the ground around the site, and clean the stone to ensure the inscriptions can be read from a distance of at least 5’ (1.5m). There is a rather involved app, where many aspects and stages of the inspection, along with my recommendations and photographs have to be recorded, then uploaded to the CWGC in Ottawa.

I see this as a an extension to the research work I already do, therefore as I go around my allocated war graves, which may increase in number later, it will be my desire to give each casualty back the “Lost Voice” and perhaps write about it within my blog.

Below are links to other war graves I have visited within Canada, in Alberta, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia ~ click on the links or images ..