John Lloyd D.Lovat d.11/11/1918

[Crunwere]

Thanks RedMystic - how exciting after all this time.

[RedMystic]

Hello all. Happy 2015.

It occurred to me that I never reported back that the Canadian War Graves headstone was placed in Lovett Cemetery in October 2014. As the abandoned cemetery is very difficult to reach & the firms that regularly install headstones did not want to make the trip up the mountain in a four wheel drive, the stone was installed by the two volunteers who have been restoring the cemetery over the past two years.

John Lloyd's exact burial place in the cemetery is unknown, so the stone was placed near others who are known to have served and who died the same year.

All the best to everyone in 2015.

[Crunwere]

Thanks Redmystic. 

We had the pictures emailed to us to put up on display for Remembrance Sunday back in November.

We had been asked not to publish before the story was put in the newspapers so left it completely.  Though there was only a small mention of John Lloyd.

Had not heard about them having trouble getting to the graveyard and passing the task over to others. 

In uk its hard for us to imagine such remote places!

Once again thanks for your and everyone's help in getting such a positive result to our quest.

[RedMystic]

The article that was prepared for the Canadian national press was dropped at the last minute because the murders of 2 Canadian soldiers pre Remembrance Day shifted press coverage from a memorial of WWI to terrorism matters.

I cleared it with the author of the unpublished piece before posting the cemetery photos here. They are also now available through Find A Grave Lovett Cemetery and on the mirror of FaG cemetery that I built on Ancestry.

All the Chatters on this search should take a great deal of pride in this outcome. The efforts of many brought it to such remarkable closure.

[Crunwere]

Thanks for the explanation Redmystic. 

I thought it a little surprising that so little mention was made of him in the article after so much preparation work had gone into it with info from relatives etc - that explains it - a shame but these things happen unfortunately.

Anyhow the main thing was to find the grave, get him officially recognised and get a stone - all of which was accomplished.

What an exciting journey it has been.

[RedMystic]

Hi Crunwere and others who watched this search unfold.

While John Lloyd is buried in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere, I wanted you to know that his resting place is being well maintained. These photos were taken last weekend when my friend went up into the mountains.

He let me know that the Commonwealth Graves Commission was at Lovett last month (September 2017) to inspect the grave site. They do this with every one every two years to ensure each is properly maintained. Pte. John Lloyd's grave site received outstanding marks and will get a great report.

If you look carefully, you will see that my friend is holding a rifle as he inspects the headstone. There were some large grizzly bears in the area that day.

Crunwere, if you'd like higher resolution photos send me a personal message with your email and I'll forward these and a handful of others to you.

[RedMystic]

2nd photo from Oct 2017

[Crunwere]

Oh thank you RedMystic for the lovely update - such a surprise to see the great pictures. 

It is a credit to everyone involved that the grave was found and the headstone installed - as well as it being kept tidy now.  It would put some graveyards in the UK to shame.

Having to take a gun to a graveyard is something new to us here in Britain!

Thanks for the offer of the pics - I'll message you.

Thanks again for the update.