Veterans’ memorial plaques found in disrepair at cemetery

A Toronto woman is speaking out after finding multiple veterans’ memorial plaques in bad condition at Beechwood Cemetery.

Alisa Yorke went to visit her late grandparents just before Remembrance Day and found their marker sunken in the ground. Their names were almost completely obscured by overgrown grass and what was left exposed was covered in leaves.

“I was angry. To be honest, I was angry,” she says. “That’s not how you show proper respect and dignity to our veterans.”

Yorke also noticed others that were covered in mud and some were just inches away from tire tracks. Without any markers separating the road from the grave sites, drivers have no way of knowing a loved one is buried there.

“They can just fade away and no one’s ever going to know and that’s not how we’re supposed to respect our families, or our elders, or the dead or our veterans,” she says.

Beechwood Cemetery is part of the Mount Pleasant Group that runs 10 cemeteries in the GTA, eight of which have veterans’ sections.

CityNews reached out to them for comment and they responded with an apology to Yorke.

“We put a great deal of effort into maintaining these sections year-round and in advance of Remembrance Day services. Unfortunately, the weather, especially at this time of year, does not always make that job easy,” wrote the VP of Marketing and Communications, Rick Cowan.

“We understand that when grounds are not pristine, especially around Remembrance Day, it can be upsetting to loved ones. We apologize that Ms. Yorke was upset by the conditions of the section. We will continue to make every effort to make these grounds look as good as they can.”