Renfrew, Ontario
Details
Kurt Johnson
Kurt Johnson
As a researcher and enthusiastic supporter of Veterans and those who died in service, Kurt Johnson has spent more than five years commemorating the lives of those who served by researching their stories and bringing them to life through publication.
Almost ten years ago, Kurt Johnson began researching local First World War and Second World War service members who are buried at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. He did extensive research, even finding photos, and prepared and provided a presentation as part of a speaker series of the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives. His research continued, looking into honour roles and cenotaphs in and around the local communities and, to date, he has given presentations to six different churches recapping the lives of the military personnel of their congregations. His presentations usually happen around Remembrance Day and provide details of the life of at least one service member, recapping their military career and usually providing photos. Last year he focussed on six nurses of the First World War and the presentation at the church also included their photos.
Kurt has also worked for 3 years doing research for the Goulbourn Museum. His research contributed to the city museum’s War of 1812 exhibit by compiling a War of 1812 tour booklet for the Beechwood National Military Cemetery.
For the last five years, Kurt has been active with the Faces to Graves Foundation. Having not only researched and written 24 biographies for two Canadian War cemeteries in the Netherlands, he has also dedicated a lot of time to helping and guiding teachers and students with their own research projects. He has assisted teacher Vanessa Kirtz with her students of All Saints High School in Kanata over the years. He has read over and edited each biography written by a student, providing additional research to ensure the biographies were polished works. He’s even offered to provide guidance to future classes and has volunteered to be a guest speaker. He’s created a style guide for the students to help them learn about the writing process. To date through this initiative, 160 stories about Canadians buried at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery have been submitted. It has involved the work of 273 students and three teachers. 128 stories have been published on the Faces to Graves website, one being included in a newspaper and one being published in a book. The students’ work was also written about in the Legion magazine.
He has also assisted in finding some of the families of the soldiers and his work has helped families learn about their loved ones. Kurt has spent hundreds of hours to ensure that the life stories of those soldiers were complete and that they honoured their sacrifice. He has mentored teachers, provided guidance and feedback which, in turn, provides the support to continue doing the student projects by passing on the knowledge to future students. He has helped other teachers and families to do research on soldiers as well. He’s provided insight into what should be included in lesson plans and the research process which ensured the lesson was user-friendly and effective in ensuring the biographies would be complete. Kurt is a huge advocate, always looking to promote the Faces to Graves Foundation and has been interviewed by CBC and the Legion magazine.