Last Post for veterans
Non-profit organization serves veterans since 1909, ensuring dignified funeral and burial services
Two policemen found a man curled up, unconscious in a doorway in downtown Montreal in 1908 and took him to a nearby hospital.
When the man was brought to the hospital, officials assumed he was an alcoholic and was intoxicated, the website for The Last Post Fund says.
However, orderly Arthur Hair noticed a blue envelope hanging from the unconscious man’s pocket.
Hair served in the South African War, he was familiar with envelopes like that.
It contained honourable discharge papers for the man. Trooper James Daly wasn’t drunk, he was suffering hypothermia.
He died two days later, never regaining consciousness.
The plan was to turn Daly’s body over to science, but Hair started to raise funds for a proper burial for the solder.
Daly was buried at NotreDame-des-Neiges cemetery on Mount-Royal.
This is what lead to the creation of the Last Post Fund in 1909. Since the burial of Daly around 153,000 service men and women have received a proper funeral and burial because of the organization over the last century. The non-profit organization delivers the funeral and burial program on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada to ensures dignified funerals for veterans.
Owen Parkhouse, who sits on the board for The Last Post Fund, is a retired Canadian Armed Forces veteran, having served 25 years. Recently he attended a dinner at Government House in Charlottetown in support of the organization.
“The Last Post Fund was started by private subscription, or private donations first. Then the government came on board. It is for veterans who really don’t have the money to look after their burial; this fund has been set up to look after them, to make sure it happens properly.”
The veterans buried using the fund get a proper headstone, and the fund looks after those who were buried in unmarked graves, Parkhouse said.
“We are a go-to point for someone who needs to burry a veteran who doesn’t have the money to do it properly. Very few people know about it, that is the sad thing”
To learn more about The Last Post Fund, visit www.lastpostfund.ca