Harold James Carberry is nominated for his dedication and devotion to the commemoration of the Veterans of the community.
He is passionate about honoring local Veterans that fought for our freedom. Due to the aging population in his region, most of the commemorative activities have stopped including Remembrance Day ceremonies at the local cenotaph. In 2008, he started marking Remembrance Day alone and ensured a poppy was placed on each of the graves of the 14 Veterans buried in the local cemetery. He also began personally refurbishing and maintaining those graves and researching the histories of the Veterans therein.
With the help of local volunteers, Burgoyne’s Cove Veterans Commemoration Association (BCVCA) was created with Harold Carberry as a co-founder and Chairperson. The association’s mission is to commemorate and honour Veterans as well as educate and inform the community of their service and sacrifice. He has expanded the reach of the association to include neighbouring communities and has to date collected stories of an additional 50 Veterans with local connections.
Being a gifted carpenter, he has not only built the ceremonial flag boxes and the lectern that displays the growing binder of Veterans’ biographies, but also personally framed the portraits on the Wall of Remembrance that he created.