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The Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM)

Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM)

A range of materials about Canada's sacrifices in war,
our military history and our Veterans' unique experiences.

This site contains a registry of information about the graves and memorials of more than 118,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served valiantly and gave their lives for their country. Included on this site are the memorials of more than 1,700 soldiers who died in service to Canada since the Korean War, including peacekeeping and other operations. The site also contains digital images of photographs and personal memorabilia about individual Canadians. The purpose of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial is to recognize and keep alive the memory of the achievements and sacrifices made by those who served Canada in the defence of freedom and so have contributed to the development of Canada as a nation.

Search

View Today’s Honour Roll

To start your search of the Canadian registry, please enter the deceased's surname. You can narrow your search by including the deceased's given name or initial(s). Fields indicated by (*) are required, all other fields are optional.

Patron

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada is the Patron of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Search Tips

A maximum of 500 responses will be provided for each search. Please use these tips for searching the Canadian Virtual War Memorial registry.

If you are seeking a list of the names of those who died on a specific date(s), or who have served with a specific unit, please use our Advanced Search.

Help Us Build a Picture Collection

You are invited to send us digital images of photographs and memorabilia relevant to Canada's war dead. Upon approval, images will be added to the collection and linked to the deceased's name. Each new picture will help bring a face to another name in the registry and honour the memory.

Read About the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

You can read about the information contained in the registry and the team members who have worked on this project.

Read more about the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

Royal Charter established the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) as the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1917:

to mark and maintain the graves of the members of the Commonwealth who died in the First World War;
to build memorials to those with no known grave; and
to keep records and registers.

This work was founded on principles that have remained unaltered:

that each of the dead should be commemorated individually by name either on the headstone on the grave, or by an inscription on a memorial;
that the headstones and memorials should be permanent;
that the headstones should be uniform; and
that there should be no distinction made on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.

Canada and other participating governments agree to share the costs of maintaining the graves and memorials in proportion to the numbers of her war dead through the CWGC. Canada also shares proportionately in the costs of maintaining the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Pusan, Korea, and the Memorial to the Missing there, which bears the names of 16 Canadians. In addition, Canada independently funds other memorials such as the Vimy and Beaumont Hamel Memorials in France and the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

It is with pride that we extend an invitation to all Canadians to visit our memorials. The grounds surrounding them are immaculately maintained, and they afford an atmosphere of peace and serenity - an atmosphere appropriate to the memory of all who gave their lives for our peace and freedom and of those for whom the fortunes of war denied a known and honoured grave.