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White crosses ready to go up on Cowichan veterans' graves in remembrance

Cross placements have caught on in almost every parish and municipal cemetery between Mill Bay and Chemainus
cross-placements
Members of 744 (Cowichan) Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 134 (Malahat) place Veterans’ Remembrance Crosses at St. Francis Xavier Church, Mill Bay, in 2022.

Since the early 1950s, it has been a Valley tradition to place small white crosses decorated with a sprig of cedar and a lapel poppy, set up with a salute by a uniformed cadet or veteran, on the graves of local veterans.

Beginning at just a few sites, over the past 20 years the cross placements have gradually caught on in almost every parish and municipal cemetery between Mill Bay and Chemainus, all put on by volunteers at the community level.

The local volunteers who organize the annual Veterans’ Remembrance Cross placements in the Cowichan Valley’s cemeteries have announced the schedule for this year’s commemorations, beginning the last weekend of October.

The largest cross placement is held at Mountain View Cemetery and St. Mary’s, Somenos, where members of 744 (Cowichan) Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, supported by the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Admiral Mainguy, the 2924 Khowutzun Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, the local St. John Ambulance Youth Brigade, and volunteers from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 53 and the community honour almost 600 veterans. Elsewhere in North Cowichan, church volunteers, Chemainus Legion Branch 191 members, the Air Cadets, and the Sea Cadets also take part in smaller cross commemorations at St. Peter’s Church, Quamichan, at St. Michael’s and All Angels/Chemainus cemetery in Chemainus, at All Saint’s churchyard in Westholme, and at the chapel at Queen Margaret’s School.

South Cowichan’s cross placements began in 2007, after the death of war artist E.J. Hughes, and today volunteers from the Mill Bay/Malahat Historical Society, members of Malahat Legion Branch 134, Air Cadets from 744 Squadron, and church representatives organize the events at St. Andrew’s churchyard, Cowichan Station, at Shawnigan Cemetery, at St. Francis Xavier Church, Mill Bay, at the Mill Bay Historic Church and Cemetery, and at the James Dougan Memorial Cemetery in Cobble Hill. Veterans’ crosses are also placed at St. John the Baptist Church, Cobble Hill, as a parish activity.

This year’s events in the South Cowichan cemeteries will take place on Saturday, Oct. 26, 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 (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.

The cross placements at Mountain View Cemetery and St. Mary’s, Somenos, Churchyard are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 27. The cadets and volunteers will meet by the Legion Section at Mountain View, immediately following the Poppy Flag raising at Duncan City Hall at 1 p.m., and march to St. Mary’s to finish the job when Mountain View has been completed.

Cross placements then continue at All Saints’ Churchyard in Westholme on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m., when members of Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Admiral Mainguy join the Westholme community in honouring their namesake, Vice-Admiral E. Rollo Mainguy, his father, BCPP Const. Daniel Wishart Mainguy, and the other veterans interred there. The presence of piper Rod Booth adds to the meaningfulness of the gathering in this little riverside churchyard.

St. John the Baptist Church in Cobble Hill customarily places veterans’ crosses in their historic churchyard as a parish activity, following the 10 a.m. Remembrance Sunday service on the Sunday before Remembrance Day. They will do so on Nov. 10 this year.

St. Peter’s Church, Quamichan, in Duncan will have parish volunteers place crosses on veterans’ graves at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31. This will be an off year for St. Peter’s popular biennial Cemetery Tea and Tour, but it’s always worth stopping by this beautiful old churchyard to pay respects to the many significant local names interred here.

Royal Canadian Legion Br. 191 (Chemainus) does a great job of placing crosses on the many veterans’ graves at St. Michael and All Angels/Chemainus Cemetery in Chemainus. Their office can provide further details regarding this year’s plans (250-246-3133).

The public is invited to attend these commemorations, or visit the community cemeteries to see the crosses in place between Remembrance Day and late November. To add the name and burial site of a recently-interred veteran (or one we’ve missed), 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.