Donald (Don) Ward has spent many years and countless hours commemorating the memory of fallen Veterans. A Veteran and artist himself, Don has poured much of his energy into painting portraits of fallen soldiers and peacekeepers on the walls within Peacekeepers Park in Angus, Ontario. Don also held many important roles during his membership with The Royal Canadian Legion and has volunteered his talents helping Veterans and community members through many different organizations.
As a member of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping for 16 years, Don generously donated his extraordinary artistic talents for several initiatives, but most notably painting the portraits of fallen soldiers on the memorial walls within Peacekeepers Park. He created banners for the park along with portraits of 286 fallen Afghanistan soldiers. The portraits have been placed on mini walls inside the park. Each name on the main wall is represented with a portrait on the mini walls. He placed 18 portraits on each side of the wall with a bilingual description of the Veteran being honoured, their age and where they made the ultimate sacrifice. He has spent countless hours working towards improving Peacekeepers Park and educating local businesses and schools about Canadian peacekeeping operations. He has also been instrumental in obtaining several more military vehicles used in UN peacekeeping missions for the park.
Don also uses his artistic talents to support Veteran causes by donating his works of art for fundraising purposes. While he was still serving, Don had also volunteered to take professional-grade photos of his fellow soldiers and distributed prints at no cost.
Between the years of 2013 and 2018, Don was a member of the Executive of The Royal Canadian Legion and held several roles including Service Officer, Youth Education Officer, and 1st Vice President. He served as Parade Marshall for the Remembrance Day parades for many years as well.
Don has also worked on a project to create a coin to honour the 50th anniversary of Buffalo 61, as well as a coin honouring the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
His volunteer work is ongoing, and he is described as having provided a "…magnificent means of commemoration with his contributions to Peacekeepers Park. His dedication to this project is outstanding. Don’s reputation in the Veteran community is impeccable. He is highly regarded for his dedication to his fellow Veterans, which at times seems endless."