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Vol. 63, Issue 57
Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
www.dailytownsman.com
Banjo’s big escape
The beloved local store pet is back home after the community rallied to find the missing feline SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
COURTESY SAVEDBYSACRIFICE.COM
Every year on Christmas Eve, Dutch school children take candles to the graves of Canadian soldiers at the Holten Canadian war cemetery in the Netherlands. Now a volunteer group is seeking information about a Cranbrook veteran buried there.
Group seeks photo of Cranbrook soldier buried in the Netherlands Cranbrook Sergeant Frank L. Martin was killed in April 1945, just weeks before World War Two ended ARNE PETRYSHEN Townsman Staff
Every year since 1991, the town of Holten, Netherlands gathers on Christmas Eve to honour the 1,355 Canadian soldiers buried there during World War II. An effort by the Mayor of Kingston, Ontario sought to recognize the contributions of the school children and adults that participate in the ceremony in Holten,
and that has further lead to another initiative. The new initiative is entitles “A Face For Every Name” and its goal is to hopefully gather photos and information on all of the 1,355 soldiers buried there. As it turns out there is a Cranbrook connection to the cemetery. “There is one soldier from Cranbrook buried in the Holten Cemetery, Sergeant Frank L. Martin,” ex-
plained Mike Muntain, who is working with the Welcome Back Veterans committee on the project. “Martin was killed on April 28, 1945, just weeks before the end of the war. As far as standards go, he was an old man of 33 years old. Born in the 1920s, he was a senior, a little older (than the norm).” Muntain said “A Face For Every Name” is a significant undertaking.
As photos and info is found, it is placed at the headstone of the appropriate grave, which gives visitors the opportunity to put a face and bio to the name of the soldier. “We’ve had a lot of luck with newspapers. A lot of luck with Kingston, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Vancouver,” Muntain said.
See DUTCH, Page 4
The Paw Shop’s resident cat Banjo is recovering after a big night out in downtown Cranbrook on Saturday night. The pet store’s owner, Stephanie McGregor, said she got a phone call at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 23 from a customer who had driven past the 10th Avenue store and noticed the storefront window had been smashed. “I came down and there was a big hole in the window and Banjo was gone,” Stephanie said. “It was awful. I didn’t know if she got cut, or if people took her, or if she got totally spooked and bolted.” The first thing Stephanie did was post a photo of Banjo to the store’s Facebook page, telling customers that Banjo was missing. She’d learned the power of social media about 18 months ago when a foster kitten was taken from the store. Through Facebook, the person who took the kitten was found and the kitten was returned. “As soon as (Banjo) wasn’t here, I knew I should put it on Facebook right away.”
See SOCIAL, Page 4