Maclean’s honouring more than 66,000 Canadians who died in WWI
Posted November 5, 2018 1:24 pm.
Last Updated November 10, 2018 10:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Our friends at Maclean’s magazine are taking a unique approach to honour Canadian servicemen and women who died in the First World War.
There are 66,349 issues across Canada, each bearing the name of someone who died in the war, plus one for the unknown soldier.
It’s impossible to say exactly how many Canadians died while serving in that war. The process of identifying, honouring and properly burying the dead continues to this day.
To highlight how fluid the official record is, just this August, four Canadian First World War casualties were buried in France. Their bodies were only recently discovered and identified.
RELATED: 100 years ago, Canadians led the First World War’s final charge
Maclean’s used the database powering the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, which is run by Veterans Affairs Canada, as the source of the names that are on the commemorative covers.
The list includes Canadians who served with British forces.
If you spot a magazine cover with a date of death after 1918, that serviceman or woman died of his or her injuries after the end of the war. The list includes people who died of their injuries as late as 1922.
The Maclean’s issues contain “Then and Now” photography, which combines images from WWI and modern day.
James Cowan, managing editor of Maclean’s, says another focus of the Remembrance issue was to “build bridges” between now and 100 years ago by Peter Macdiarmid blending old and new photographs.
“[There is a] picture from London in 1916 with a Canadian leftenant walking in front of Buckingham Palace and you can see the tourists from today sort of swirling around him, so it gives you a connection between the past and the present,” Cowan explains.
Those interested can also search Maclean’s online registry of the Canadians who fought and died in the First World War and find out who they were in real life.
“People are actually able to see their handwriting, who their parents were, who were their next of kin, what were their distinguishing marks on their bodies,” he says. “It really is a fascinating section and a really interesting memento from the past.”
You can request a newsstand copy, or request a specific name by ordering online.
