Winnipeg, MB - Winnipeg's Brookside Cemetery is encouraging the public to visit and remember the more than 11,000 war Veterans interred in its Field of Honour during the week prior to Remembrance Day. Brookside Cemetery is home to one of Canada's largest and most significant military interment sites.
The Field of Honour is the burial place of war Veterans, peacekeepers, merchant marines and military service men and women from the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the Battle of Hong Kong. The Field of Honour also heralds Canada's only Commonwealth War Graves Commission "Stone of Remembrance."
“Many people don't know that such an important Canadian wartime historical site is located right here in Winnipeg,” said Jane Saxby, Cemeteries Administrator. “The Brookside Cemetery Field of Honour compares to the European and American Military Fields of Honour. We are offering free tours for schools and the general public during Remembrance Week, as a way to increase awareness of this historical asset and to ‘Share the Story.’”
In addition to free organized tours, Veterans from the Second World War, the Korean War and peacekeeping missions will be present to provide firsthand accounts of Canada's military history. They will also be joined by representatives from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum who are providing memorabilia displays and explanations.
In the year of the First World War’s centennial and the Second World War’s 75th anniversary, it is a great way to acknowledge the service our Veterans gave. Visitors can place a candle and Canadian flag while learning of our Veterans’ bravery.
"We encourage people of all ages to visit the Field of Honour this year as a way to better understand how important Remembrance Day is to all of us. It is a day to remember and reflect on the sacrifices that helped shape the Canada we enjoy today," said Saxby.
This is the eighth year Brookside Cemetery is providing tours of the military interment site. The Brookside Military Field of Honour is the final resting place for two of Manitoba's most famous Veterans: Sergeant Tommy Prince, the province's most decorated Aboriginal war veteran, and Major Harry Coleburn, the soldier who owned the bear cub who later inspired the Winnie the Pooh series of children's books.
Field of Honour - General Public Tour
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2014
Time: 10:30 a.m. (tour is approximately 3.5 hours in duration; bus transportation is included within the cemetery)
A short Service of Remembrance will be held immediately after the tour, at the Stone of Remembrance in the cemetery grounds, commencing at 1:30 p.m. All persons on the tour will be able to attend and then will be taken back to the pick-up point in the tour bus.
Please note: Advance registration is required for the general public tour. Those interested in taking the tour can contact Brookside Cemetery at 204-986-4348.