WW1 Vernon Internment Camp Graves Being Restored

Pleasant Valley Cemetery in British Columbia holds the broken tombstones and neglected graves of many of those interred during World War 1. After WWI broke out, over 8,500 Canadians, many naturalized citizens, were taken to one of the 24 internment camps across Canada, including a large one in Vernon that ran from 1914-1920. Another 88,000 Canadians were forced to register and had to report on a monthly basis to officials.

Vernon Internment Camp - Greater Vernon Museum & Archives

The Vernon and District Family History Society and the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund are working together to repair the forgotten graves.

The names of the internees still buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery are:

• Mile Hecimovich (d. 1917)
• Ivan Jugo (d. 1917)
• Timoti Korejczuk (d. 1919)
• Steve Sapich (d. 1917)
• Wasyl Shapka (d. 1918)
• George Vukop (d. 1916)
• Samuel Vulovich (d. 1918)

The names of the internees that were originally buried in Vernon and moved to Kitchener, Ontario (Woodland Cemetery) are:

• Bernard Heiny (d. 1918)
• Karl Keck (d. 1917)
• Leo Mueller (d. 1919)
• Wilhelm Wolter (d. 1918)

Read more  at  A dark past unearthed