Information about a WWI soldier that was missing on a Kelowna Cenotaph for years has finally been added- just in time for Remembrance Day.
Kelowna resident and veteran, Al Schmidt, was the one to notice that details about Private James Eastwood were missing on the Cenotaph in Lions Park, more than two years ago.
“The other individuals had their information, the date that they were killed and the place that they were killed and their battalion, and he didn’t, so I thought ‘oh gosh, maybe I should try and do something about that,’” says Schmidt.
Schmidt embarked on a fact-finding mission to get the details so that they could be added, scouring numerous websites and connecting with Veterans Affairs in Penticton and then in Charlottetown, PEI.
He eventually found out that Eastwood, originally from Ontario, was a Millwright in Kelowna before serving in the war with the 15th Battalion in France. He died at the age of 33 at Vimy Ridge, and is buried at the Nine Elms Military Cemetery in Vimy, France.
Shmidt gave a file of the information he had obtained to the city, which said it would look into it. Schmidt says he didn’t hear anything for 18 months, so he gathered all the information again and brought it to the city a second time. The information was forwarded to Parks Services.
“There was something truly inspiring about the effort that Al Schmidt put in to recognize this soldier, someone he never even knew,” says Cemetery Manager David Gatzke “When he walked in to my office carrying a two-inch folder filled with documentation of his attempts at finding out why the information was missing for this soldier, you could tell there was a connection that only a veteran could fully understand.”
It’s not clear why the details about Eastwood were never added. The Cenotaph went up in 2009 after being relocated from the old school in Rutland. The original Cenotaph never had Eastwood’s information either.
“We have no idea why it was left out,” says Kelowna Legion President, Jim McCaffery “Probably because whoever was doing the research either didn’t bother or couldn’t find it.”
McCaffery says three other mistakes on the Cenotaph were uncovered: another soldier's last name and date of death was incorrect and Passchendaele was spelt wrong.
Through their poppy fund, the Kelowna Legion paid for a new bronze marker with the mistakes corrected and Eastwood's details added and Parks Services installed it- just last week. McCaffery credits Schmidt for making things right.
“Because he wrote the city and said ‘How come?’ and I had to agree with him that the information on there should be correct,” he says “If you’re gonna put the information on, let’s make it right.”
For Shmidt, it was also a matter of principal.
“He [Eastwood] had nothing,” he says “Half the information was missing, so I wanted to complete it.”