History
The National Field of Honour was founded and is maintained by the Last Post Fund, a private charitable organization founded by Arthur Hair in 1909. The Last Post Fund aims to ensure that war Veterans and Peacekeepers receive a dignified funeral and burial regardless of their means. The National Field of Honour serves as a permanent memorial of their service. The National Field of Honour was consecrated on September 21, 1930. As of 2010, more than 20,000 burials and interments have been made here. The National Field of Honour is distinct among Canadian military cemeteries in that all the headstones are laid flush with the ground. All Veterans whether they were Generals or Privates lie beside each other as equals. There are among them 16 war graves of World War II which are registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The National Field of Honour is opened to visitors from Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm, but anyone can come and stroll the grounds over the weekend. As you stroll through the National Field of Honour, you will notice that each street is named to honour distinguished Canadian Veterans. There are also three commemorative circles which have been built to honour different war heroes. A new Columbarium has been added to the cemetery and Veterans' ashes can be placed into the Columbarium walls. A water garden has also been recently donated and in the summer you can sit beside the pond and examine beautiful flowers. There are benches all around the Field for visitors to relax and enjoy the landscape of history.
Read more about this topic: National Field Of Honour
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)