Tom Slater & Tom St. Amand
In the 1920s, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission began removing the wooden crosses from the graves of fallen soldiers and replacing them with uniform markers of white stone.
The Commission encouraged surviving families to compose personal epitaphs for loved ones laid to rest in foreign lands.
Never in history had this been done, and many Sarnians took the opportunity to compose heartfelt tributes.
Initially, the families were allowed only 66 characters, including the spaces.
But how do you do justice in 66 spaces? How do you capture in a few words the essence of a person taken too soon, written on a gravestone you most likely would never visit?
Some families took solace in mentioning their hometown while others turned to poetry and literature for inspiration.
Many found comfort in faith and scripture, or honoured a loved ones’ patriotism and sense of duty.
Several epitaphs capture the devastating impact the loss had on their family.
A total of 213 Sarnians, representing 70% of our city’s fallen, are buried in Canada and at least 16 other countries scattered throughout the world.
From South Africa and Iceland to Barbados and Algeria, their bodies lie in more than 120 cemeteries.
Today, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ensures the 1.7 million servicemen and servicewomen of the Commonwealth who fought and died in the two world wars will never be forgotten.
Canada’s headstones are a uniform style. The same commemoration is given to all, so that Canadians lie buried side-by-side regardless of rank, religion, colour, social standing or creed.
The markers are engraved with the iconic maple leaf, or a regimental badge, and for Newfoundlanders, a caribou. Each features the soldier’s rank, name, enlistment number, decorations conferred, date of death, age of casualty and a religious symbol.
But the bodies of 89 of Sarnia’s fallen soldiers have never been recovered.
Though their names are inscribed on war memorials in nine countries, from Egypt to France to South Korea, the families they left behind never had a chance to write an epitaph, to say goodbye.
I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT, I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH.
Corporal Isaac Bell, RCIC, 8.7.44 (age 23), Beny-Sur-Mer Cemetery, Reviers, France
BELOVED AND ONLY SON OF JEAN NEIL & WILLIAM J. HANNA BORN AT SARNIA, ONT. JAN. 16, 1895.
Lieutenant Neil Hanna, RFC, 20.11.18 (age 23), Montecchio Cemetery, Italy
NEVER HAVE SO FEW GIVEN SO MUCH FOR SO MANY, TO THE UTMOST, TO THE END.
P/O-BA Arthur Thompson, RCAF, 29.1.44 (age 22), Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
REST IN PEACE MY DARLING AND MAY YOU NOT HAVE GIVEN YOUR LIFE IN VAIN.
Sapper Robert Dionne, RCE, 1.10.44 (age 20), Bergen-Op-Zoom Cemetery, Netherlands
TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE.
F/O-Pilot Allan Campbell, RCAF, 25.8.44 (age26), Bretteville-Sur-Laize Cemetery, Calvados, France
THE PLACE MADE VACANT IN OUR HOME CAN NEVER MORE BE FILLED, MOTHER.
Private George Turner, 42nd Battalion, 11.1.16 (age 27), R.E. Farm Cemetery, Belgium
UNTIL THE DAY BREAK AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY.
Private Charles Howe, 1st Battalion, 22.9.16 (age 30), Adanac Cemetery, Somme, France
BORN IN SARNIA, CANADA.
Captain Norman Towers, RCR 7th Light Bat., 20.9.16 (age 29), St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France
CLIFF AND I LIVED A GLORIOUS LIFETIME TOGETHER IN FIVE SHORT MONTHS. VERA.
Sgt. Clifford Hebner, RCE, 5.10.44 (age 32), Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium
OUR ONLY SON.
Gunner William Coulter, CFA, 14.11.17 (age 20), Lijjssenthoek Cemetery, Belgium
HE CHALLENGED THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY THE INNOCENT AND THE WAY OF LIFE HE LOVED SO WELL.
P/O-AG John Dowding, RCAF, 17.10.44 (age 18), Harrogate Cemetery, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
GOD BE MERCIFUL TO MY SON. REUNITE HIS SOUL WITH THOSE OF HIS DAD AND HIS PALS. MOTHER.
Sgt-AG Jesse Brakeman, RCAF, 3.9.41 (age 21), Dunkirk Town Cemetery, Nord, France
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.
Private Wifred Durocher, RCIC, 26.2.45 (age 29), Groesbeek Cemetery, Netherlands
SO EASILY REMEMBERED BUT HARD TO FORGET. MAY GOD GRANT YOU, KEITH ETERNAL REST.
Lance Corporal Keith Banks, RCIC, 6.9.44 (age 21), Calais Cemetery, Leubringhen, France
IN LOVING MEMORY HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.
Private Neal Benware, 1st Batalion., 23.5.16 (age 27), Lijjssenthoek Cemetery, Belgium
HE DIED THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE.
Sgt-AG Stuart Carr, RCAF, 23.1.44 (age 19), Cambridge City Cemetery, United Kingdom
GIVING ALL, DARING ALL TO THE UTMOST, TO THE END, HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE.
FS-N H. Fraser Thompson, RCAF, 27.6.42 (age 23), Halaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt
GOD’S GREATEST GIFT, REMEMBRANCE.
F/O-N Arthur Parsons, RCAF, 30.4.43 (age 27), Muiden General Cemetery, Netherlands