Canadian Virtual War Memorial help

Thanks to the generosity of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, you can now search the Canadian Virtual War Memorial to find where Canadian war dead are buried. This site is a registry of the graves and memorials of more than 118,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served valiantly and gave their lives for their country.

Tips for searching

• Only use information that you are sure about.
• Searches are not case sensitive. Search criteria may be entered in upper, lower or mixed case.
• A Surname or part of a Surname is required to successfully complete an inquiry.
• A maximum of 500 responses will be provided for each search.
• Providing a Given Name or an Initial will help narrow down the number of search responses.
• You can search by full Given Name or part of the Given Name.
• Separate multiple Given Names by a space. Do not use commas or periods.
• At least one Initial should be used. Separate multiple Initials with a space. Do not use commas or periods.
• Multiple Given Names or Initials in the wrong order will cause an inquiry to miss the required record.
• If the surname contains spaces (e.g. Le Blanc), it may appear in the database with or without the space (Le Blanc or LeBlanc).
• If the surname contains a period as in St. Pierre, it will appear in the database as St(space)Pierre.
• Try using Wild Cards.
  • A Wild card is a term used to describe a search technique which enables a range of names to be matched from a fragment of a name. "%" can be used to replace a string of text within your search. This technique ensures that the widest range of records are searched in an attempt to find the correct one.
  • Example: Entering a Surname as %donald% will return the following search responses:
    • DONALD
    • DONALDSON
    • MACDONALD
    • MCDONALD

Listed below are additional search resources that are available on the Internet.