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One of 27,000 Canadians who died for their country and remain unidentified to this day has become symbolic of all Canadians who have sacrificed or will sacrifice their lives in wars.
The unknown patriot was honoured in a nationally televised ceremony on May 28, 2000, when he was laid to rest in the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier, instigated as a millennium project by the Royal Canadian Legion. The tomb is Canada's version of the Tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in London, England, which contains the remains of an unknown soldier, sailor or airman who died in the First World War for one of the countries or colonies of the British Commonwealth.
Since 1867, when Canada became a nation, more than 2 million Canadians have answered the call to fight for the principles of peace and freedom, in peacekeeping exercises and in such wars as the First World War 1914 to 1918, and the Second World War 1939 to 1945.
More than 116,000 paid with their lives, including 27,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen who died or were lost at sea without record. These unidentified Canadians were never accorded a proper burial.
In 1997, The Royal Canadian Legion proposed that Canada establish the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier to pay special tribute to the many Canadians who died in war and were not properly buried.
The Unknown Soldier, who is now buried in a commemorative tomb at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, was selected from a First World War cemetery in France's Vimy Ridge area, where Canadian troops achieved a decisive victory against the Germans in April 1917. His was chosen from among 1,600 graves marked with the words "A Canadian Soldier—Known Unto God." All that is known about him is that he was buried in the area of the battle of Vimy Ridge.
The Unknown Soldier's long road home began on May 25, 2000, with the transfer of his remains at a ceremony at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France. The Vimy Memorial immortalizes the memory and sacrifice of Canadian soldiers who died in war, including the more than 11,000 who were never found and whose names are inscribed on the monument.
In Canada, the Unknown Soldier was transported to the Parliament Buildings, where he lay in state for three days to allow Canadians to pay their respects. On May 28, a horse-drawn gun carriage highlighted a funeral procession that left Parliament Hill to the sound of a 21-gun salute and delivered the soldier's casket to a granite sarcophagus at the base of the National War Memorial.
After the remains were lowered into the tomb, veterans scattered soil from Vimy and every Canadian province and territory onto the coffin, to allow the Unknown Soldier to lie under the soil of his homeland and that of the land where he died.