'Every stone tells a story': Program strives to ensure every veteran grave in Lethbridge is marked

LETHBRIDGE -

A program helping discover and mark the graves of veterans in Lethbridge is being called a success.

Volunteers with the Last Post Fund work with cemetery staff to go through the plots of areas without headstones and pull the records of who may be buried there.

The program then completes background research of the individual to see if the person is a veteran.

"Every stone tells a story, but that story was never found out because we walked by grass in a cemetery," said Glenn Miller, president of the Last Post Fund Alberta branch.

Any veteran who lies in an unmarked grave for more than five years is eligible for a marker.

"In the (Mountain View) cemetery here, I'd say there's at least 20 that we've identified over the last course of years," Miller said.

The markers are made possible through the provincial chapters of the Last Post Fund, through the Unmarked Grave Program.

"These stones are then transferred over to Veterans Affairs Canada and they're looked after forever," Miller said.

In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada invested $24.4 million, over five years, into the grave marker maintenance program, to undertake more than 54,000 outstanding repairs.

During the five-year project, an additional 60,000 repairs were made to veteran grave markers.

Veterans Affairs Canada maintains roughly 250,000 veteran grave markers in more than 7,800 cemeteries.

Miller says around 600 stones are funded each year.

"Because there is a backlog of applications, if I was to submit one today, it may be three or four years before we see a stone," Miller said.

Anyone is able to submit an application for a military marker through the Last Post Fund.