I am a retired Canadian Ambassador, based in Ottawa, with a passion for genealogy. I have documented over 5,000 members of my family tree and have benefitted from the generosity of Find A Grave photographers who have volunteered their time to record the graves of many of my ancestors.

Four years ago, when I joined Find A Grave, I was surprised that relatively few of the headstones of veterans buried in our National Military Cemeteries in Ottawa were photographed and available online.

As a result, I began to systematically capture each one of them, and The Veterans Project was launched. As of November 2021, I have completed photographing memorials in all five sections devoted to the Canadian military at Notre Dame and Beechwood cemeteries, totalling about 8,000 military headstones with memorials now available online for those buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section, the Last Post section, Section 27 and Section 103, the newest and largest in the National Military Cemetery. I am continuing to visit these cemeteries to identify and photograph memorials on an ongoing basis for the benefit of families, historians and genealogists. For those who are interested in learning more about this project, please see the Beechwood Cemetery Newsletter November 2021. In August 2022 the Canadian Legion Public Affairs office was advised of this initiative.

In addition, in the Fall of 2022 I began to document memorials to members of the law enforcement community in Section 114 of Beechwood Cemetery which includes the RCMP National Memorial Cemetery and the Ottawa Police Services Memorial Cemetery.

Before me have come many others whose work I am complementing and who continue to add to the memorials I and others have created. We are a virtual team honouring those who served Canada so well.

Lest We Forget.

I am a retired Canadian Ambassador, based in Ottawa, with a passion for genealogy. I have documented over 5,000 members of my family tree and have benefitted from the generosity of Find A Grave photographers who have volunteered their time to record the graves of many of my ancestors.

Four years ago, when I joined Find A Grave, I was surprised that relatively few of the headstones of veterans buried in our National Military Cemeteries in Ottawa were photographed and available online.

As a result, I began to systematically capture each one of them, and The Veterans Project was launched. As of November 2021, I have completed photographing memorials in all five sections devoted to the Canadian military at Notre Dame and Beechwood cemeteries, totalling about 8,000 military headstones with memorials now available online for those buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section, the Last Post section, Section 27 and Section 103, the newest and largest in the National Military Cemetery. I am continuing to visit these cemeteries to identify and photograph memorials on an ongoing basis for the benefit of families, historians and genealogists. For those who are interested in learning more about this project, please see the Beechwood Cemetery Newsletter November 2021. In August 2022 the Canadian Legion Public Affairs office was advised of this initiative.

In addition, in the Fall of 2022 I began to document memorials to members of the law enforcement community in Section 114 of Beechwood Cemetery which includes the RCMP National Memorial Cemetery and the Ottawa Police Services Memorial Cemetery.

Before me have come many others whose work I am complementing and who continue to add to the memorials I and others have created. We are a virtual team honouring those who served Canada so well.

Lest We Forget.