Veterans identified and honoured in Medicine Hat ceremony

Veterans who previously laid beneath the soil without a headstone have now been honoured with a permanent remembrance of their service.

2024 is the centennial year for the Royal Canadian Air Force, yet Canadian soldiers still served in the skies before 1924.

Harry Dobbin was born on Sept. 2, 1897, in Vancouver. In 1919, while serving with the Royal Air Force, the precursor to the RCAF, Dobbins died on the one-year anniversary of the First World War ending.

His body was brought to Medicine Hat, Alta., where his family resided. Upon being buried in Hillside Cemetery, Dobbins’ body remained without a tombstone.

Over a century later, this has changed.

On Thursday, the Last Post Fund held a ceremony honouring Dobbin and 13 other soldiers who received long-overdue recognition for their service.

Glenn Miller is a retired Warrant Officer and he currently serves as president for the Alberta and Northwest Territories branch of the Last Post Fund. He says it is an honour to give these fallen soldiers their well-deserved headstones.

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“We do everything because of three simple words: Lest we forget,” said Miller.

A grave marker offers remembrance for a fallen soldier, even though it may be decades after their passing.

“Who advocates for a veteran (who) has no voice? That’s what we try to do through our lost veterans initiative… to end up with that stone, so their voice is always read when someone walks by that stone,” said Miller.

Some veterans are left with nothing to remember them by when they pass away, leaving a challenge for those hoping to identify them.

“I think the longest I ever looked for a veteran was a little over eight years,” said Yvonne Sugimoto, a volunteer researcher with the Last Post Fund.

She says her work is unwavering because every unknown and unmarked soldier has a story worth telling.

“Often times, the graves that (my colleague) and I are researching, the men were single and they died far from home with no one who cared about them. So, that’s why their graves aren’t marked.”

In many cases, the graves were marked, but with unsustainable materials that have since disintegrated over the years, decades and centuries.

“These folks would have been honoured with wood crosses, which was the standard at the time. But, we know wood deteriorates over time, so this gives a more permanent place to remember without having it get lost to the ages of time,” said Justin Wright, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat.

The Last Post Fund operates off donations for their services. The government grants 600 tombstones every year, though there are thousands more still waiting to be recognized.