New Westminster WWI veteran gets grave marker after 79 years

For 79 years, William A. Stevenson, a veteran of the First World War, has been buried in New Westminster B.C.'s Fraser Cemeterywith nothing to markhis grave site.

Now, after a local funding campaign raised thousands of dollars this past year, Stevenson finally has a grave marker with his name on it.

"It's important to give him his legacy to let people know his story," saidRobert Rathbun, president the Society of the Honourable Guard, which promotes awareness of veterans.

Rathbun said Stevenson fought for the Canadian Mounted Rifles in the First World Warand returned to New Westminster after the conflict ended. He lived at 315 Columbia Street and died in 1939 at the age of 55.

He was originally from Ireland and had no family in Canada to pay for his funeral. The cost was borne by the Canadian Pension Board, but there was nomoney for a marker on his grave.

The Society of the Honourable Guard runs a program that has school children and youth tend the grave sites by cleaning and maintaining them.

"They've always questioned, 'Why are there no stones on some of these graves?'" he said.

Thegrave marker for Stevenson was dedicated in a ceremony on Saturday.