‘Why we do it’: More than 100 volunteers lay flags at soldiers’ graves in Kingston

KINGSTON — On a chilly November morning, more than 100 volunteers began arriving at a historic cemetery in Kingston, Ont., to help honour soldiers who are buried there.

Some came with family members, others were joined by friends and strangers, forming small groups that scattered across the civilian side of the sprawling Cataraqui Cemetery in search of specific grave markers.

Each group was handed a list of names, a map of the cemetery, a pen and a bundle of Canadian flags last Thursday. Their mission was to find the graves of those who served in the Canadian Armed Forces and lay flags along their tombstones to honour their service ahead of Remembrance Day.

Around 1,500 soldiers are buried at the cemetery, 800 of them among civilians and 700 at the section dedicated for military personn