RICHMOND - A 100-year-old piece of Canadian history that went missing for half a century has been rediscovered and restored.
A plaque honouring B.C. postal workers who fought and died in the First World War was unveiled Friday in Richmond after it was discovered in a storeroom in Victoria earlier this year.
The mahogany plaque bearing the names of six Canada Post employees is now in the possession of the Van Fraser Heritage Club, an association of retired Canadian postal workers.
"Forty-five, 50 years or more, it's been tucked away," said Jim Bain, of the club.
No one at Victoria's Ashton Armoury Museum, where the plaque was found, knows where it came from or how it ended up there. The museum has no record of receiving the item.
"We're not sure and they're not sure," Bain said.
A total of 28 former postal workers were killed in the First and Second World Wars, including Robert Harvey's great uncle Frank Edward Carr.
Harvey was among those in attendance at the ceremony unveiling the plaque Friday. He said Carr died in a gas attack in April 1915, but his memory lives on in Remembrance Day events.
"We need to keep those people in our minds," Harvey said.
He's not the only one who feels that way.
Recent polling by Ipsos on behalf of Historica Canada found that a growing number of Canadians plan to attend ceremonies on Nov. 11.
A total of 41 per cent of respondents said they planned to attend an official service for Remembrance Day 2019. That's a 2-point increase compared to last year, and a 12-point jump since 2017.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim
