21 May 2024 - Ottawa, ON - Veterans Affairs Canada
Over 12,000 Newfoundlanders served on land, sea and air during the First World War. Hundreds of young men rushed to join the newly formed Newfoundland Regiment and the Royal Naval Reserve, while women signed up to work as nurses or with the Voluntary Aid Detachment overseas. Families and communities back home stayed active, supporting the troops from the home front. Their sacrifices and achievement will never be forgotten.
From May 22 to 25, delegations from the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and a team from the Canadian Armed Forces, will participate in a commemorative program to recognize and honour all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who served in uniform, in particular those with no known grave. The delegations, supported by the Canadian Armed Forces, include Veterans; representatives of Veterans organizations, remembrance institutions, Indigenous groups and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and parliamentarians-many of them from Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Government of Canada delegation will be led by Minister Seamus O'Regan, on behalf of Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and Randeep Sarai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Delegations will depart from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and travel to northern France to begin the process of bringing an unknown Newfoundland soldier home to rest.
The delegations will visit and pay their respects at memorial sites and cemeteries for Newfoundlanders who served, fought and died in the First World War. These sites include four of the six memorials informally known as the Trail of the Caribou. At the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Ancre British Cemetery, delegates will learn about and honour Captain Eric Ayre. His brother Bernard, as well as their cousins Wilfrid and Gerald Ayre, all of whom fought during the Battle of the Somme, were killed on 1 July 1916.
On 24 May 2024, the delegations and invited guests will attend a reception at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. The Governments of France, Canada, and Newfoundland and Labrador will deliver speeches, and the Royal Canadian Legion-Newfoundland and Labrador Command will provide greetings, during this reception.
On 25 May 2024, the Government of France will formally transfer the remains of an unknown soldier to the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in a public ceremony at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. The same day, the delegation will attend a ramp ceremony in France before the unknown soldier is flown in a Canadian Armed Forces aircraft back home to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The delegation will also participate in a ramp ceremony in St. John's when the unknown soldier arrives on Newfoundland and Labrador soil.
