War graves tour Nov. 15

Maurice Guibord makes a point of pronouncing out loud the names of veterans whose grave markers he passes while walking through the Field of Honour, in the southwest corner of Burnaby’s Forest Lawn Cemetery. It’s his way of thanking them for their sacrifice.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, his private tributes will have an audience, as Guibord hosts his second annual Remembrance Day Wartime Graves Walking Tour.

This year he’ll be visiting Forest Lawn’s Field of Honour, the little-known final resting place for veterans of almost every war fought in the 20th century, from the Boer War to the conflict in Bosnia.

During the tour, he’ll bring life to some of the long-dead soldiers by telling the stories between the lines of the simple inscriptions on their gravestones. Like the irascible WWI stretcher bearer Mickey O’Rourke, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bullheaded retrieval from No-Man’s Land of wounded comrades while under enemy fire.

O’Rourke’s feisty nature stayed with him after the war, when he returned to Vancouver to work as a longshoreman. He became known as the King of the Waterfront, his escapades there almost as legendary as the ones that earned him military honours.

In 1929 he refused to attend a Victoria Cross dinner in London, hosted by the Prince of Wales, because he didn’t have a proper suit. Friends passed the hat to buy him a new one, but the day before he was to depart for his journey to England, he disappeared and didn’t turn up again until two weeks later, his new suit a little worse for wear.

A few years later, during the Depression, he led a parade of striking dockworkers into battle with the mounted police, who happened to be led by an old army buddy of his, William Foster.

In 1951, he refused to join the parade of veterans marching for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philiip during their visit to Vancouver. “They wouldn’t want to meet an old bladerskite like me,” he told a local newspaper.

He again tried to snub royalty when he refused to attend another Victoria Cross celebration in England in 1956. He thought the invitation was a trick by friends to get him into a mental hospital. By the time they convinced him otherwise, passage to get there was already booked. But an anonymous doctor who had lost a leg at Dieppe paid O’Rourke’s airfare and he arrived just in time for the ceremonies and a reception at Buckingham Palace. When he returned to Vancouver he said, “I’ve met the Queen, I”ve met the Princess Royal and I’ve met Sir Anthony Eden. But not once did I get a glass of Canadian beer.”

Guibord, who’s the program coordinator at Burnaby Village Museum, estimates he spends more than 100 hours researching the soldiers’ stories. He starts with his own tour, looking for anything unique in the very basic information inscribed on the granite markers set into the grass that may hint at a greater tale, like citations for military awards, groups of family members who all served, unusual jobs or ranks. He then begins to flesh out their lives using death records at the BC Archives, death certificates on file at the library and obituaries that may have been published in the newspaper and are preserved on microfilm. A little Google searching doesn’t hurt either.

Guibord says it’s a labour of love.

“It’s great to tell of the ultimate sacrifice these men and women have paid,” says Guibord. “It gives me a new respect for what they have accomplished.”

The tour begins at 10 a.m. and costs $10.50. To register, visit www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca.

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