Saanich Remembers Interpretive Panel

Saanich Remembers

Through its Saanich Remembers project the Municipality of Saanich invested significant resources in commemorating the men and women of the municipality who served in the Great War.

Ordinary People

Five Girling brothers of the Swan Lake neighbourhood served as soldiers. Godfrey Girling, 26, was killed in action January 1918 while serving with the 123rd Pioneer Battalion. After Stanley Girling was wounded another brother supplied necessary blood transfusions. Stanley lived but Leonard Girling, 29, died of complications resulting from the life-saving transfusions he had given.

On one single day - September 27, 1918 - 843 Canadians died in the  fighting for Bourlon Wood in France. One of the fallen was Saanich resident Robert Stark Little, 34. His is one of 221 Canadian graves at  nearby Bourlon Wood Cemetery.

The prescribed minimum age at which a youth was allowed to fight in the Canada Corps was 19. Like so many other volunteers, Frank Butts misrepresented his age when he volunteered. On Snowy Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, Frank was one of 2,400 Canadians killed in the first day of the battle for Vimy Ridge. At the time young Butts' real age was 17.

Saanich Honour Roll

Beginning in 1916 Saanich Council began compiling an Honour Roll listing the names of Saanich residents who served. The roll was eventually lost and remained missing for many years but it was recovered and is now  displayed in Saanich Archives.

The roll bears 355 names. The dedicated people working at Saanich  archives continue to supplement it was new names when additional Saanich soldiers come to light.