Startsein project: Every grave, a face

On Friday, March 7, the project “Every Grave a Face” officially started at the Holten Canadian Cemetery. This is one of the activities of the Holten Canadian Cemetery Information Center in a special commemorative year, namely 80 years of freedom. In the presence of volunteers and project sponsors involved in the project, the first information signs near the graves were unveiled. The signs have an image and QR code that refer to the life story of the soldiers who died.

Life stories online
The database of life stories that “hide” behind the 1,394 tombstones on the field of honor has recently been online on the website of the Holten Canadian Cemetery Information Center: life stories.canadesebegraafplaatsholten.nl

Collecting and writing life stories and digitizing photos and documents was a big job led by the information center's research group. Volunteers from all over the Netherlands and Canada, as well as students who made it their profile paper, contributed. “This is a job that, if it's good, is never finished. Even after 80 years, we still receive photos, stories and documents that keep the memory of fallen liberators alive. Lest we forget (so we don't forget), is our motto.”

Every grave has a face
Directly linked to the database of life stories, the project Elk graf een gezicht is. From May 4 to 23, when 80 years of freedom are commemorated, there will be a sign with an image and a QR code at every grave in the cemetery. This QR code leads to the information in the database about the soldier in question. With the (temporary) installation of the first signs on March 7, we symbolically kicked off the project.

DThis project came about with the help of: the V Fund, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Faces to Graves Groesbeek Foundation, Sitework Lochem, Reclamemakers Holten, BEMEI RVS INDUSTRIE Holten, Müller Fresh Food Logistics Holten and Berkleba Nijmegen.

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