National Field of Honour Cemetery

This memorial is dedicated to all Veterans.

The 1908 death of Trooper James Daly in Montreal, a soldier for over 20 years and a veteran of the South African War, was the catalyst that would lead to the creation of the Last Post Fund by Arthur Hair. Being a veteran of the South African War himself, and now an orderly at the hospital where Daly had been treated, Hair was shocked that the penniless Daly’s remains would likely be turned over to science for medical research, as was customary in those days. Hair raised money from friends and colleagues to give the soldier a decent and dignified funeral and Daly was buried at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery on Mount-Royal. Wanting to ensure that no Veteran in need would ever be deprived of a dignified burial, Hair quickly founded the Last Post Fund in 1909 with the purchase of two plots on Mount Royal. With the advent of WWI, these two plots soon reached capacity, and in 1929 the Last Post Fund purchased six acres of land adjacent to the Lakeview Cemetery in Pointe-Claire. This piece of land would become the National Field of Honour, the final resting place for more than 20,000 servicemen and women, and their loved ones.

[front/devant]

Le Champ d’Honneur National
Du Fonds du Souvenir

Inauguré en 1930, ce lieu est l’œuvre du Fonds du Souvenir, un organisme de bienfaisance fondé en 1909 pour offrir une sépulture honorable aux Anciens Combattants sans le sou à une époque où l’état n’assumait pas cette responsabilité. Il reflète bien la tradition des cimetières militaires par la sobriété de son plan axial, la disposition ordonnée des stèles et le traitement uniforme des sépultures, symboles de la discipline militaire et du principe de l’égalité des soldats dans la mort. Lieu de mémoire, ce cimetière et ces monuments évoquent d’une façon poignante les sacrifices des hommes et des femmes qui ont servi la patrie.

Last Post Fund
National Field of Honour

Inaugurated in 1930, this cemetery is the work of the Last Post Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1909 to provide honourable burials for indigent veterans at a time when the government did not assume the responsibility. It exemplifies the tradition of military cemeteries in the simplicity of its axial plan, orderly placement of tombstones and uniform treatment of graves, elements symbolic of military discipline and the equality of soldiers in death. A place of remembrance, this cemetery and its monuments are a poignant and powerful evocation of the sacrifices of the men and women who served their country.