A local veteran of Canada’s post-Second World War peacekeeping forces has received a proper burial here, nearly four years after his death.
Lance Corporal Walter Joseph Anderson was buried on July 17 at the Harriston Cemetery during a private ceremony attended by a few friends and members of the Harriston Legion Branch 296.
Canada’s Minister of Veterans Affairs Julian Fantino and Perth-Wellington MP Gary Schellenberger were also on hand to see Anderson laid to rest with a plot and marker thanks to Last Post funding through the veteran ministry’s Community Engagement Partnership Fund.
At the time of Anderson’s death on Oct. 9, 2010, at the age of 81, there was no money available for funeral arrangements.
Anderson was survived by four children, all in western Canada and an elderly sister from Toronto, who was too frail to attend the service last week.
“He had no estate and his family, they’re not around,” said Harriston Legion member Mark MacKenzie. “He died a pauper.”
Anderson, who was born in Toronto, served on peacekeeping missions in central Europe and Scotland for 13 years following the Second World War.
MacKenzie recalls Anderson came to live in a social housing apartment in Harriston shortly after losing his leg in an automobile accident in 1994. Anderson visited the Legion regularly, where he made friends and enjoyed playing cards.
After he died, his executor arranged for cremation by accessing Canada Pension Plan death benefits, but that’s where the money ran out.
“They couldn’t even afford an urn, so I believe somebody stepped up and took care of that,” MacKenzie recalls.
“He was a friend of mine and he was a Legion member. So we tried for a while to get funding and there was nothing available, particularly if they served post-war.”
About a year ago, MacKenzie began working through Schellenberger, “and finally the feds came through with a fund now for service guys that can’t afford to be buried.
“A lot of people felt this took too long,” said MacKenzie, who anticipates that now other veterans and their families in similar situations will benefit from such funding.
However, Schellenberger told the Advertiser no new fund was established and no rules were changed to facilitate Anderson’s burial.
“I think what happened is they may have broadened things a little wee bit,” he explained. Schellenbeger said the situation was quickly resolved once Fantino became aware of it.
“The minister said, ‘this is gonna happen.’”
Schellenberger continued, “Out of all the veterans that get looked after there are certain ones that just don’t quite fit (into program criteria) because these are people, everyone’s a little different. May it happen again? It may very well.”
At the service last Thursday, Schellenberger said he was pleased Anderson would at last be buried “with dignity and with the pride of a grateful nation.” The MP also said he was “very thankful” that MacKenzie came to him to help facilitate the burial.
Fantino, in his remarks, also acknowledged the efforts of MacKenzie and local Legion members.
“If it weren’t for your intervention, the federal government wouldn’t have plugged in,” said Fantino.
“Thank you for giving him this last act of generosity and kindness – and humanity really,” he said. “It’s the least we can do for everyone who has served our country.”
Fantino stated, “a man who has served his country with distinction has finally been laid to rest with the honour and dignity that he deserves.”
He added, “It is my hope today that another good soldier will be able to rest in peace knowing that his country has not forgotten his service or his sacrifice.”
