Forgotten First World War veteran gets his due
For 79 years, visitors to the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminster have walked past an unmarked grave not knowing it belonged to First World War veteran William A. Stevenson.
Next Sunday, on the centennial of the war’s end, his name and final resting place will no longer be forgotten.
Stevenson survived the war and was in his 50s when he died of a stroke on April 14, 1939. He was buried not far from his home on 315 Columbia St., looking over the Fraser River, his funeral paid for by Canada’s pension board.
During a Saturday downpour, his grave was finally marked with a headstone following a crowdfunding campaign launched one year ago by the non-profit Society of the Officers of the Honourable Guard.
Robert Rathbun, president of the Honourable Guard, said it is important we never forget those who fought to keep our country safe and free.
“For 79 years, he’s been nameless,” said Rathbun, gazing at the Canadian flag which lay over Stevenson’s grave, ahead of a ceremony to commemorate him.
“We’ve had generations of people walking through this cemetery not knowing who he was.”
After raising more than $4,500, Rathbun said his group now plans to acquire three more headstones for unmarked graves with help from the Last Post Fund, which provides a military marker for any veteran’s grave that has had no marking for five years or more.
That is only one part of the work the Honourable Guard is doing to ensure Canada’s veterans are not forgotten.
Six years ago it launched ‘Teaching Children to Remember’, a program which brings children and youth to the cemetery and helps them learn about the lives of more than 400 veterans buried there.
“They’re taught things out of a textbook but to actually come down here and be introduced to people who grew up in their neighbourhood, that went to their school — it makes that connection, it’s important to preserve that,” Rathbun said.
“What we’re really trying to instil in the children is to keep these stories alive.”
On Saturday, a few-dozen children used nylon brushes, plastic drywall scrapers and tap water to gently remove moss and dirt from the headstones and make clear their epitaphs. Once a headstone was clean, they placed a poppy on top.
Rathbun’s daughter, Emmaline, and her good friend Tristan Harrison, both 13 and in Grade 8, have been looking after the graves since 2013.
Emmaline said it has been heartening watching their group grow over the years. She said it is important that young people learn about and show respect to the veterans.
“Especially the unnamed graves, it’s kind of sad to see that they served for us so we can live they way that we do today, and they’re not honoured properly,” said Emmaline, a student at Fraser River Middle School. “I take special care to clean those ones.”
“I just think it’s good community service — helping people out who helped us out,” said Tristan, a student at Glenbrook Middle School.
Emmaline and Tristan said they read the stones carefully and recognize that some of the soldiers were also teenagers when they spent years in the trenches.
“Some of them were only 18,” Tristan said. “That’s kind of sad. They did so much and so the least we can do is clean their graves, and remember them for what they did and what they did for us,” added Emmaline.