The Ottawa Cremation Memorial

Adjacent to the Field of Honour in Section 27 where War Dead and Veterans are buried, sits a small stone building. This small building is an important early military memorial at Beechwood Cemetery.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission built the Cremation Memorial in 1958. It consists of commemoration panels set on an inside wall of a stone shelter building that was designed and built by Veterans Affairs Canada engineers. The Commission installed a Cross of Sacrifice in the centre of Section 27 in 1957 and a ceremony to dedicate the Cross of Sacrifice and Cremation Memorial was held in May 1959.

The Cremation Memorial commemorates 31 War Dead of the First and Second World Wars. The 31 War Dead commemorated on the Memorial were cremated in Canada and the United States and do not have a place of burial.

In 1971, the Cremation Memorial also displayed plaques to commemorate 28 Dutch War Dead whose graves are maintained by the Canadian Agency of the Commission on behalf of the Netherlands.

The two plaques read

1939 – 1945 IN HONOURED MEMORY OF THESE OFFICERS AND MEN WHO DIED IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WHOSE MORTAL REMAINS WERE COMMITTED TO FIRE

TER HERDENKING VAN DE IN CANADA GEVALLEN NEDERLANDERS

Translation In commemoration of the Dutch people who fell in Canada 1940 – 1945