Courtesy of Mike Bieling
The local groups that organize the annual Veterans’ Remembrance Cross placements in the Cowichan Valley’s cemeteries will begin the task the last weekend of October.
The placing of small white crosses, decorated with a sprig of cedar and a lapel poppy and delivered a salute by a uniformed cadet or veteran, on the graves of local veterans has been a Valley tradition at a few sites since the early 1950s. In recent years, however, the practice has taken on new life, with parish and community volunteers bringing it to nearly every cemetery between Mill Bay and Chemainus.
The largest cross placement event is held at Mountain View Cemetery and St. Mary’s, Somenos, where members of 744 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron honour more than 590 veterans, supported by the 100 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Admiral Mainguy, the 2924 Khowutzun Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, and the local St. John Ambulance Youth Brigade, as well as volunteers from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 53 and the community. Parish volunteers, Chemainus Legion Branch 191 members, Air Cadets, and a contingent of Sea Cadets also participate in smaller placements at St. Peter’s Church, Quamichan, at St. Michael’s and All Angels/Chemainus cemetery, and at All Saint’s churchyard, Westholme.
Cross placements in South Cowichan’s cemeteries began in 2007, and today volunteers from the Mill Bay/Malahat Historical Society, members of Malahat Legion Branch 134, Air Cadets from 744 Squadron, and parish representatives organize the events at St. Andrew’s churchyard, Cowichan Station, at Shawnigan Cemetery, St. Francis Xavier Church, Mill Bay, at the Mill Bay Historic Church and Cemetery, and at the James Dougan Memorial Cemetery in Cobble Hill. Since 2008, veterans’ crosses have also been placed at St. John the Baptist Church, Cobble Hill, as a parish activity.
For 2023, the events in South Cowichan will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28, with the round of cemeteries starting at St. Andrew’s Churchyard in Cowichan Station at 11 a.m. That will be followed by Shawnigan Cemetery at 1 p.m., the Mill Bay Historic Church and Cemetery (currently the location of the Heritage Museum) at 1:50 p.m., and St. Francis Xavier Church in Mill Bay at 2 p.m. The two known veterans’ graves at Cobble Hill’s James Dougan Memorial Cemetery will also be marked by the end of the day.
The cross placements at Mountain View Cemetery and St. Mary’s, Somenos, churchyard are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 29. The cadets and volunteers placing crosses will meet beside the Legion Section at Mountain View, immediately after the Poppy Flag raising at Duncan City Hall at 1 p.m.
Cross placing will continue at All Saints’ Churchyard in Westholme on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 11 a.m., when members of 100 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Admiral Mainguy will join the Westholme community in honouring their namesake, Vice-Admiral E. Rollo Mainguy, his father, BCPP Cst. Daniel Wishart Mainguy, and 55 other veterans interred in this little cemetery.
St. John the Baptist Church in Cobble Hill will place veterans’ crosses following the 10 a.m. Remembrance Sunday service on Nov. 5. They thank the Bench Pathfinders for decorating their crosses at their Nov. 2 meeting.
St. Peter’s Church, Quamichan, in Duncan will have parish volunteers place crosses on Monday, Oct. 30, but their main commemoration will be the return of their popular Nov. 11 Cemetery Tea and Tour of selected veterans’ graves in the beautiful and historic churchyard. Participants are asked to arrive by 1:45 p.m., with the tour starting at 2 p.m. Admission is by donation, with proceeds going to the Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Fund.
Royal Canadian Legion Br. 191 (Chemainus) also places crosses at St. Michael and All Angels/Chemainus Cemetery.
The public is invited to attend one of these commemorations, or visit one of our community’s burial places to see the crosses in place between Remembrance Day and late November. To add the name and burial site of a veteran interred in one of the Cowichan Valley’s cemeteries, contact Mike Bieling at 250-748-5031 or oldcemeterian@shaw.ca.
Mike Bieling is the coordinator of the “Lest We Forget Where They Lie” Cowichan Valley Veterans’ Burials Project.