we give them a ‘Face’ by telling their life story.
Canadian liberators in the spotlight, tribute to those who never returned.
We are celebrating 75 years of freedom and want to honor the Canadians who fell in that cause. The ‘Faces to Graves’ Foundation is achieving this at the Canadian Military Cemetery at Groesbeek by creating a Digital Monument in which these men are given a ‘Face’ through their life story.
Over the past few years, Faces to Graves’ volunteers have spent many hundreds of hours researching the background of these men. A great deal of information has been collected and processed in the form of individual life stories. ‘A most moving experience for visitors to our website when they read the various life stories,’ says Alice van Bekkum, Chair of the Faces to Graves Foundation.
Faces to Graves is a non-profit organization, founded in 2015 and based in Groesbeek. Its aim is to paint a picture of all the men laid to rest in the Canadian War Cemetery at Groesbeek by compiling their life story, where possible with a photograph and often with recollections of family members, a letter or other memento.
These stories are available for everybody to read in a Digital Monument on the website www.facestograves.nl
The Digital Monument also contains videos, including one of Pilot Officer Frederick William Campbell, ‘Ted’ to his friends, who was killed two weeks after his wedding and nine days before his thirtieth birthday when his Lancaster Bomber crashed near Oppiter, Belgium. Below his life story is the link to his story: https://www.facestograves.nl/LifeStories/CAMPBELL,%20Frederick%20William-GDJ-bio-EN.pdf
Dutch and Canadian High School Students have taken part in a Faces to Graves School Project by writing life stories.
Faces to Graves works at a national level together with organizations with the same objective for the Canadian Cemeteries at Bergen op Zoom and Holten in the Canadian War Graves Foundation.
On the website you can find more information about the Faces to Graves non-profit organization, how to become a volunteer, how to provide (financial) support and to supply new information on the men who gave their lives.
For more information: Faces to Graves Foundation / email address: info@facestograves.nl
