‘Righting a wrong’: Volunteers securing headstones for Manitoba veterans who never got one

Volunteers and veterans Peter Martin (left) and Joe Sapischuk stand beside the headstone for Pte. James McQuade in Transcona Cemetery on Nov. 8, 2026. The marker was installed on Nov. 3 through the Last Post Fund’s Unmarked Graves Program. (Milan Lukes/CTV News Winnipeg)

For years, the only marker on Pte. James McQuade’s grave in Transcona Cemetery was a number on a concrete base. There was no name, and nothing to tell a passerby that a veteran was buried there.

The Royal Canadian Artillery soldier, who died in 2019 in his 90s, never received a permanent grave marker. That changed last week, thanks to a small group of volunteers who refused to leave it that way.

On Nov. 3, a military headstone was installed at McQuade’s grave, secured through the Last Post Fund’s Unmarked Graves Program. The family believed a marker had been ordered years earlier, volunteer Peter Martin said, but something went wrong along the way.

“A veteran who served their country, lived their life, passed on, and is buried somewhere and there’s no marker there—that’s not right,” said Joe Sapischuk, one of the volunteers working to make sure Manitoba veterans are remembered.

“Even somebody walking by and just seeing their name, it is a way of them being remembered and honoured,” said Sapischuk, who spent nearly a decade in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

About 600 headstones have been placed for veterans in Manitoba since the Last Post Fund’s Unmarked Graves Program began in 1996, according to a rough estimate from Manitoba branch president Matt Halpin. Across the country, the program has provided about 10,000 markers.

“It all comes down to recognizing veterans who gave their lives for this country, whether it was they were killed in battle, the ultimate sacrifice, or they just passed away after many years of service,” said Halpin, a retired lieutenant-colonel who served 37 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“To think that a veteran is lying there without any kind of recognition just doesn’t seem to make sense to me. It’s not the right thing.”

The program places headstones on the graves of veterans that have gone unmarked for five years or more and never had a permanent marker. It covers anyone who has passed basic training and been honourably discharged, whether they served in wartime or peacetime. There is no minimum length of service, Halpin said.

“It could have been two months. It could have been 40 years. We still deem that individual to be a veteran,” he said.

Halpin said the Manitoba branch has 14 volunteers working to ensure no veteran’s grave remains unmarked.

Tracking down unmarked graves

Most of the work begins with the volunteers themselves, Halpin said. They walk cemeteries looking for graves without markers, whether in a family plot, a field of honour set aside for veterans, or a single grave on its own.

Martin and Sapischuk, both Transcona residents, said they got involved about two years ago after meeting Halpin at the cemetery’s field of honour, a section reserved for veterans. Martin began researching, which led to the group’s first unmarked veteran grave there.

“And I said, ‘This is just the tip of the iceberg. How many more in here are possibly unmarked that we need to rectify?’” Martin said.

“I assumed every person buried in this cemetery had a marker of some sort, military or otherwise. And when I found that that wasn’t true, especially for the military, it was very sad to learn that. And I made it my mission to do whatever I could do with my teammates to rectify that.”

The cause is also personal for Martin, an army veteran who served in the Signal Corps. He said his father landed in the first wave at Juno Beach and “lost a lot of good friends from Transcona.” Martin said his son served 29 years with the RCMP, and his grandson, an artillery gunner, is bound for Latvia next year.

Martin said the search involves scouring genealogy websites, including Find a Grave, which catalogues gravesites and also denotes veterans. For graves without a photo, volunteers walk the cemetery to check whether there is a marker and if the plot number matches.

Halpin said volunteers also draw on obituaries, military files and cemetery records to determine who is buried in a plot and whether they served.

“If all those pieces line up through an application, eventually we can put a headstone on that particular grave site,” Halpin said.

Rick Walker, another Transcona resident, helps the group with research, drawing on his volunteer work with the Manitoba Genealogical Society.

“We’re trying to make sure that they are recognized, they are remembered, [and] they’re not forgotten,” Walker said.

A temporary marker in the meantime

The non-profit currently has nearly 4,000 applications at various stages across the country, according to Halpin. He said it is not uncommon for a headstone to take years to arrive, with the wait from application to installation now approaching three to four years.

Applications have been submitted for veterans dating back to the Boer War, he said.

Once an unmarked grave has been found and a stone ordered, Sapischuk said there’s no need to wait. He builds wooden crosses in his garage to place on the graves in the meantime, while Martin arranges the plaques to affix to them.

“The reason why a cross is being used is because historically that’s what was used in a battlefield. So, we’re keeping to history,” Sapischuk said.

Martin said the cemetery gave permission and supplied the specifications, so the crosses fit in with the other markers. McQuade’s grave has carried one of those crosses for more than a year.

The group also tries to find veterans’ family members, tell them about the stone and invite them to a ceremony once it is in place. Families can keep the temporary cross if they wish, Sapischuk said.

Sometimes the search turns up descendants who never knew where their relative was buried, Martin said. Often, though, the trail runs cold.

“A lot of cases, a lot of those names, we cannot find the family,” Halpin said. “In some cases, we’ve got headstones for individuals who were buried 50, 60, 100 years ago. Trying to find family is almost next to impossible a lot of times.”

“If we can include the family, that would be icing on the cake,” he said.

Halpin said veterans most often end up without a headstone because their families, if they have any, forget to order one, sometimes while an estate drags on.

“I understand how it happens because somebody passes away, an office gets notified, it gets misplaced or it just falls through the cracks,” Sapischuk said.

Since 2019, the program’s Indigenous Veterans Initiative has also placed headstones for 26 Indigenous veterans in Manitoba.

A mission more than a century old

Resolving unmarked graves is a newer chapter in a mission that stretches back more than a century. The Montreal-based Last Post Fund was formed in 1909 so that veterans who die without the means for a burial could still receive a dignified one, including a funeral service and headstone.

It administers Veterans Affairs Canada’s Funeral and Burial Program, which helps cover costs for eligible veterans whose deaths were service-related or whose estates can’t afford them. The department also helps fund the Unmarked Grave Program.

Halpin said the organization’s roots go back to a Montreal hospital, where Arthur Hair, a South African War veteran, worked as head orderly. Hair cared for a homeless veteran who had been brought in and later died of malnutrition and pneumonia. A man with no family would normally have been buried in a pauper’s grave, Halpin said.

Instead, Hair raised money to give him a proper burial, with help from donors. That effort grew into the Last Post Fund, which Halpin said has helped provide about 160,000 dignified funerals to veterans since 1909.

Halpin said with approximately 2,000 cemeteries in Manitoba, the branch needs more volunteers.

“There’s a lot of ground to tread,” he said. Finding every veteran in an unmarked grave would be ideal, but he acknowledged that may be out of reach.

“Is that realistic? Probably not. But we are certainly trying our best to fulfil that mandate.”

Anyone who wants to volunteer, donate or pass along a lead can contact the Last Post Fund through its website.

For McQuade, the work isn’t finished. Martin said he has already spoken with the family, who are out of town, and the group plans to hold an unveiling and dedication ceremony with a Legion colour party once everyone is available.

Sapischuk said the work is about “righting a wrong” and hopes Remembrance Day prompts people to look closer to home.

“Think back into your own family,” he said. “Is there someone that did serve that’s no longer with us? Do they have a marker?”

At McQuade’s grave, where there was once only a number, there is now a name.