CWGC hosts Canadian minister of Veterans Affairs

We were delighted to welcome visitors from Veterans Affairs Canada at our Head Office in Maidenhead last week.

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Paul Ledwell, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs, met with our Director General Claire Horton CBE, and members of the Commission’s senior leadership team – a continuation of our longstanding partnership with the VAC which dates back to 1924.

The meeting was a fantastic chance to discuss the ongoing collaboration between our two organisations and lay the ground for future plans and opportunities.

Nearly 19,000 Commonwealth casualties of the two world wars are commemorated at more than 2,800 cemeteries and memorials across Canada, and more than 110,000 Canadian war dead are commemorated at CWGC sites around the world, highlighting the importance the close relationship between the two organisations.

The minister and his team also visited the CWGC’s Runnymede Memorial where more than 20,000 Commonwealth airmen who have no known grave are commemorated.

Minister MacAulay met with some of our UK operations team and was given a tour of the memorial by one of our volunteer tour guides, hearing stories about some of the 3000 Canadian servicemen and women who are commemorated at Runnymede.

We were delighted to join our visitors in laying a wreath at Runnymede, a shared moment of honour and respect for those who gave their lives during the Second World War.