Mountain View Veterans Project

"To honour and protect in death seems but a small return to those who have protected their country in life."

Vancouver's Mountain View Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 12,000 veterans the second largest "Field of Honour" in Canada. However, over 900 of those veteran graves still do not have a marker.

The BC Branch of the Last Post Fund, a non-profit corporation whose mission includes providing headstones for war veteran graves that have been unmarked for more than five years, initiated a project several years ago to begin to address the challenge in Mountain View Cemetery.

In 2005 - The Year of the Veteran, 13 monuments were dedicated to commemorate these veterans and to assist with the ultimate goal of marking each grave individually.

The monuments include the name and date of death of each veteran, cut from stainless steel plates mounted between granite pillars. As each grave is marked, a brass plate is placed behind the veteran's name to indicate the marking of the grave.

Over time, as graves are marked and the brass plates installed, visitors to the cemetery will be able to trace each step made towards achieving the ultimate goal - a marker for every veteran.

First Veterans Grave Marked | Special Event

The public is invited to participate in the process by making a charitable donation. All levels of donation are welcome and amounts greater than $20 will receive a tax deductible receipt.

A 'donation' of $225 will result in the cemetery marking a grave (the cemetery chooses which grave to mark) and the donor will receive a tax-deductible receipt as well as a commemorative card and photograph.

If a person wishes to mark a specific grave, it cannot be done by donation but the cemetery can provide and install the marker at a cost of $225 for the marker and $175 for perpetual care and installation ($448.00 including HST).

If you'd like to help mark a veteran's grave, your donation can be sent to Mountain View Cemetery, c/o Mountain View Veterans Project, 5455 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC V5W 2Z3.

Please remember to make your cheques payable to the City of Vancouver

Visit:
The list of unmarked veteran's graves
Cemetery's Military Burials page
Last Post Fund site