Headstone of Canada’s Unknown Soldier
The only artifact in Memorial Hall at the Canadian War Museum is the headstone from the grave of Canada’s Unknown Soldier. A single window high on the south wall is aligned so that, if the sun is shining on Remembrance Day (November 11) at exactly 11:00 am, sunlight perfectly frames the headstone. Visitors regularly place poppies on it. The headstone was removed from the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery in Souchez, near Vimy in France, when the remains of an unidentified Canadian WW1 soldier were repatriated to Canada in May 2000.
A Soldier of the Great War – A Canadian Regiment – Known Unto God.
A marker replaced this one on the now empty grave in France:
Ancienne sépulture d’un soldat canadien inconnu mort au cours de la première guerre mondiale. Il a été exhume le 25 mai 2000 et il repose maintenant au Monument commémoratif de guerre du Canada à Ottawa
The former grave of an unknown Canadian soldier of the First World War. His remains were removed on 25 May 2000 and now lie interred at the National War Memorial in Ottawa Canada.
Of the more than 66,000 Canadians who died in WW1, almost 20,000 have no identifiable grave.
Great War 100 Reads 