A Night for All Souls - Vancouver BC - October 25 - November 2, 2014

Don't miss the 10th annual All Souls celebrations at Vancouver's Mountain View Cemetery.  The events begin Saturday, October 25, from 6-10 pm.

The Cemetery's Celebration Hall will be open 6 to 9 pm for tea, personal memorial making and evening programming throughout the entire memorial week until Sunday, November 2.

 For more information, see:
 http://vancouver.ca/your-government/tours-events-mountain-view-cemetery.aspx

This year I will be reflecting particularly on those of my family who served, and some who died in World War I.  A number of Canada's war dead from both World War I and II are buried at Mountain View, and many more are remembered on family headstones. 

Mountain View Cemetery - at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Canadian World War I dead, Jones section, Mountain View Cemetery, City of Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photograph, M. Diane Rogers, November 2013.

The 1914-1918 Vigil Begins Tonight

The 1914-1918 Vigil begins today, 4 November 2008.

Each evening, beginning at 5 pm, and ending at sunrise on 11 November 2008, the names of Canada’s 68,000 World War I dead will appear at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London, England and also at selected Canadian cities, although none in British Columbia.

The illuminations can be viewed on-line, however, in real time.

The names include members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Names are in no order or ranking, but you can search at the Vigil web site to see what time a name will appear. Choose your time zone on the site before searching.

1914-1918 Vigil Website

This memorial project, created by R.H. (Robert Holmes) Thomson and Martin Conboy, is supported by Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian National History Society, as well as by other donors.

It's a real shame that this project is not being featured in any British Columbia city, particularly as such a high percentage of British Columbians, like my great uncle, Bert, answered the call in World War I. Herbert George Saggers, along with too many other B.C. men, died overseas.

If this vigil is held another year, it seems to me that Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver would be the perfect place for a British Columbia event. Over 12,000 veterans rest in Mountain View, the second largest 'Field of Honour' in Canada.