Pte. William Armstrong Syer was a Nanaimo man who was killed in the First World War and buried in the Crouy British Cemetery in Somme, France.
A miner before the war, where he served in the 143rd Battalion, Syer was 34 when he died in battle in August 2018.
He’s also one of more than 200 local soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First and Second World Wars memorialized in video presentations around the city through a Vancouver Island University video project.
The Nanaimo Remembers project, begun in 2018, has been displaying the names on video since Wednesday and will continue through Remembrance Day.
Dr. Stephen Davies, director of VIU’s Canadian Letters and Images Project, said the goal is to bring to life the soldiers who “sacrificed their lives for our freedom.”
“The project shares details of each soldier’s life, revealing the people behind those names on the cenotaph. You get a deeper sense of what remembrance means.”
The names for the project have come from the Dallas Square Cenotaph in downtown Nanaimo. They include a special section that recognizes the contributions of Indigenous soldiers, thanks to research by VIU Elder-in-Residence Geraldine Manson.
Where available, information for each soldier mentioned includes their name, rank and battalion, the age at which they died, when they died and where they were buried, their pre-war occupation and their connection to Nanaimo.
Creation of the project was led by VIU and included collaboration with its Canadian Letters and Images Project and the Nanaimo Community Archives.
It came through an effort to localize a project the university took park in for many years called The World Remembers — a display to honour soldiers around the world who lost their lives in the First World War.
Nanaimo Museum general manager Sophia Maher said the facility is honoured to be screening the project again this year.
“Nanaimo has a long history of service and it’s critical that the sacrifices the soldiers and their families made are commemorated now and for future generations,” she said. “We encourage guests to take some time to acknowledge their service, and to visit our partners at the Vancouver Island Military Museum to learn more about Nanaimo’s military heritage.”
The museum will show the video through Saturday and again from Tuesday to next Friday.
The City of Nanaimo is showing the video at Beban Park and the Oliver Woods Community Centre from Monday to Remembrance Day, with Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog saying the presentation “poignantly acknowledges the sacrifices made by Nanaimo’s soldiers” who served in the wars.
Screenings are also taking place at local schools, and the video is being shown continuously in the reception area at the offices of Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools.
“Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools extends its deepest respect and thanks to both past and present members of the Canadian Armed Forces,” said school board chair Greg Keller. “Your courage and commitment to shaping a brighter future remain etched in our memories. We are eternally grateful. Thank you.”
The video is also running continuously until Remembrance Day on the large screen in VIU’s Welcome Centre, and will be shown on Rogers TV beginning Sunday.
Other locations showing the video include the Port Theatre and the Vancouver Island Regional Library’s North Nanaimo Branch, which will both run it on all dates, and it is also available on VIU’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/viuchannel.
