Parksville’s Veterans Remembrance Program
October 3, 2022
Commemorative banners to honour the local veterans who lost their lives in World War I and World War II will be displayed along the Island Highway East and the Alberni Highway through November. Approved by Parksville Council in 2020, this annual program honours the veterans whose names are listed on the Parksville Cenotaph.
Through continued research, we are pleased to add four new veteran banners. Of the sixty veterans listed on the Cenotaph, we have been able to find photos for 38. We appreciate the many residents who shared personal stories and valuable information about family members, not otherwise obtainable through archives or museums. Gathering information and stories to personalize the lives of these veterans has been rewarding and challenging for the City. Our sincere thanks to researcher, Valda Stefani, who pursued the stories through archives worldwide, establishing relationships with military museums and other researchers, and conducting interviews to ensure we learn about as many veterans as possible.
The City’s website tells the incredible and heartwarming stories of the World War I and World War II veterans. As you will read in the stories, many of the local young men who enlisted, especially in World War I, were recent arrivals from such places as the United Kingdom and Australia and were too young to have started families, adding to the challenge to find photographs and details. Our search for missing details continues and our website identifies those veterans; if you can help, contact Deb Tardiff.
