Amy Lawson of Summerville hopes to make those connections with the Port Mouton cenotaph, with her booklet on the lives of those soldiers. She is also hoping the community can help her put a face to the name.
There are 31 names on the cenotaph, 28 from World War I and three from World War II. Of the 31 names listed, Lawson has pictures of eight. Biographies are completed on all of the soldiers, however she wants to add photos of them, either in uniform or later in life, to go with the stories.
The idea for creating the booklet came out of the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies. Lawson attends in Port Mouton each year to pay her respects. However she started wondering if the others who attended the ceremonies knew who the soldiers were.
"As I got older and more interested in family history, I looked around and think 'that's a relative of that person. I wonder if they know it'?"
She wanted to put together something that people could look through, and maybe make that family connection. She hopes to have the booklet finished in time for Remembrance Day this fall.
The cenotaph holds a personal connection for Lawson as well. Her Uncle was Lockern Hupman, incorrectly spelt as Lockhart on the cenotaph, who fought in World War I.
The cenotaph itself has some unusual qualities as well. Lawson doesn't think the stone was put there by the Legion, since most of the references of putting in the stone talk about the community raising the money. The cenotaph was installed in the mid-1920's, with the World War II names added after it ended in 1945. Interestingly, the World War I names were of all the soldiers who fought in the war, not just the four that were killed in action. The World War II names were just of those who lost their lives.
Details on how the cenotaph came about will be in the introduction of the booklet, says Lawson.
Lawson is an avid historian as well, and has put together two books on her own family tree. She also created a book compiling the "Out and About" type columns that her mother did for the paper, spanning from the 1930's to the 1970's.
Anyone who has photos they would like to share with Lawson can contact her at 685-2528.
Names of those that are missing:
Cecil Smith
Clifford Inness
Walter Leary
Edgar Burgess
Abden Burgess
Samuel Campbell
Nathaniel Colp
Carman Doggett
Lester Doggett
William Farquar
James Huskins
Eric Colp
Ira Burgess
Lester Melhman
Ernest Roy
George Schultz
Henry Smith
Lester Smith
Victor Smith
Edgar Smith
Chester Trott
Aubrey Wagner
George Wolfe
