WARMINGTON: No soldier goes forgotten thanks to The Last Post Fund

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They are not forgotten.

And they never will be — thanks to The Last Post Fund, and those who donate to keep the special charity alive.

“The mandate is to make sure every person who served in the military or the RCMP is given a proper funeral and burial,” said retired colonel R.G. (Geordie) Elms and past president of the Ontario chapter of the Last Post Fund.

Even though they may have felt in alone in life, they are not alone in death because this group of patriots ensures that their service and sacrifice is honoured.

“Everybody serves in different ways,” said retired general Walter Natynczyk, once Canada’s chief of defence staff.  “But they all serve Canada.”

Some, who wore a military or policing uniform, are celebrated for their contributions. Some die in battle or  in the line of duty, while others come home to raise families, participate in business or go into politics.

But some slip between the cracks. This is where the Last Post Fund comes in.

“We don’t forget these heroes,” said Ontario LPF President Mike Voith, a retired lieutenant-colonel who — with his vice president, Maj. Adam Saunders — works on this project seven days a week, 365 days a year. “This is a great memorial to our soldiers of the past.”

This is why the Last Post Fund decided to not only have a special “Field of Honour” burial section at the Meadowvale Cemetery in Brampton, but to also erect a majestic Cross of Sacrifice to remind the public that these Canadians served and protected them.

“This is a great memorial to our soldiers of the past,” said Voith.

The Last Post Fund began in January 1908 in Montreal, when police dropped off an inebriated man at the hospital.

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“He was cold; he was destitute; he was homeless,” wrote retired colonel Gil Taylor in Canadian Military Family Magazine. “They found him as just another drunk who needed to sleep it off.”

Only he wasn’t drunk. He was sick. He had nobody. And he had nothing.

But an orderly named Arthur Hair found his British military discharge papers.

It turns out he also had a name. He was Trooper James Daly.

He died in the hospital of hypothermia at 53 and was destined for a potter’s field. Hair insisted that would not happen on his watch, and he raised the money for a burial plot. The Last Post was born and, some 116 years later, is still working to ensure all those who served are treated with dignity.

Capt. Brian Patterson, of the 48th Highlanders, said this project of “passion” also provides families a place to go to pay homage to someone’s service. He worked hard with retired trooper Harry Keleshian, Pte. Shirley Elms and many others on the fundraising efforts to construct this stately cross.

But none of this would have happened without the generous donations from Canadians, including $40,000 from Toronto’s Masons. Deputy Grand Master Art DiCecco, of the Grand Lodge of Canada, told a dinner of veterans at the Royal Canadian Military Institute last Wednesday that the cause “is deep in the hearts of the organization” and they will be designating it as one of their key charities in 2025, as well.

Sometimes families didn’t know about a distant uncle or cousin who had served, and the Last Post Fund in essences brings people and their stories back to life.

Or sometimes an old soldier or police officer dies and has no family remaining.

Korean War veteran Roland Geffrey Jacobi, of Oshawa, is an example. Born in 1930, he died just shy of his 90th birthday in 2020 as the pandemic was starting to sweep the country, and didn’t get the send-off he deserved.

“He had no family remaining,” said Geordie Elms, who added a friend eventually called the fund at its toll-free number, 1-800-465-7113.

The Last Post Fund has councillors working the phones every day, and just like that, they were able to start the process of organizing a proper funeral and burial for Jacobi next to his peers. The fund, which is reliant on volunteers and donations, covered the costs.

Eventually there will be a headstone there in his honour. A veteran of the Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan conflicts, Natynczyk knows more than anybody the sacrifice and traumatic aftermath that accompanies war.

Whether he was with the troops in Afghanistan, on a warship off the coast of Africa or with the air force on a NATO mission, Natynczyk said he was always asked “Sir, does anybody know we are here and does anybody care about us and does anybody know the sacrifices our families are making?”

Natynczyk said, “when you have these noble symbols of sacrifice” like this cross, it “shows all those who served that the nation does care.”

At a time when Canada has been tearing down its historical statues, it’s nice to see ones like this being erected.

It’s a fitting tribute. We need to remember that if it was not for the uniformed men and women who put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf, Canadians would not have the freedoms they now enjoy and sometimes take for granted.

And Canadians, at the beginning of Remembrance Week — or during any week — should not forget that.