The Park turns 100 this year — contact South Vancouver Neighbourhood House for celebration details.
Their names shall live for evermore
The words on the original Cenotaph and the mission that drives us today
A monument born of compassion, rebuilt in stone, and remembered by generations.
South Vancouver Veterans Council Society
For years, we quietly organised Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Memorial Park South Cenotaph. Now formalised as the South Vancouver Veterans Council, we’re dedicated to preserving the stories of those South Vancouver residents who served and sacrificed..
The Cenotaph
Vancouver’s first community cenotaph has represented South Vancouver’s Great War sacrifices for over a century.
In November 1920, the Great War Veterans Association South Vancouver – a small group of determined women – made a bold decision.
With Remembrance Day approaching and national attention focused overseas on the unveiling of London’s first cenotaph, they resolved that their own community would not be left without a place to remember and honour family and friends from the community.
In just five days, these women organized, funded, and built Vancouver’s first community cenotaph — a wooden monument overlooking Mountain View Cemetery, near where John Oliver Secondary School now stands.
It was simple in form but profound in meaning: a place for families to gather, to honour the fallen, and to say, “We remember.”
Know their names
The cenotaph carries no names.
Of the 309 First World War graves at Mountain View Cemetery, some belonged to South Vancouver – people whose families know exactly who they were. The Cenotaph, built to honour them, knows none of their names. Help us name and reclaim their sacrifice.
We’re gathering pieces of history – names and stories of the men and women, immigrant and local born – who were a part of South Vancouver when the Great War started in 1914.
We’ve found a few – about 64 so far and we know there are more names that we’d like to hear about. If you know of anyone, drop us a line via our form and tell us what you can. We’d like to be able to help fill in the blanks, both yours and ours.