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- calendar_today November 11, 2026
The Genesis of For Posterity's Sake
What began as a modest genealogy website with a small section assisting users in locating Canadian military service records quickly transformed into a passion project for Garry Weir. A former member of the Royal Canadian Navy, Weir initially planned only two or three pages to help families track down information about loved ones who had served. But, as he puts it, he "went overboard," creating a sprawling digital archive now titled For Posterity's Sake, focused on preserving royal canadian navy history.
Growth into a Comprehensive Navy Archive
The website now features tens of thousands of photographs, approximately 20,000 obituaries of former service members, and detailed pages on over 1,000 navy ships along with stories about those who served aboard them. Weir, who served primarily in Halifax as a radioman between 1982 and 2003, shifted his full attention to this project, eventually abandoning his initial genealogy website due to the overwhelming scope and importance of his new focus.
Daily Dedication and Volunteer Contributions
Retired and living in Winnipeg, Weir devotes up to 10 hours daily to managing the site—after his morning visit to the gym and tea ritual. The project has become a collaborative effort, drawing in contributions from numerous individuals eager to preserve their own connections to the navy. "I do the work at this end, but it's a lot of people who just decided they want to see what they can do and they start sending me information," he explained.
Community Volunteers and their Role
One regular contributor is Brian Lapierre of Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, a Royal Canadian Navy veteran who served as an electrician from 1966 to 1989. Lapierre estimates he has submitted around 1,500 navy obituaries, along with various photographs and documents. He emphasizes the ongoing necessity of remembering service members—not just on Remembrance Day but every day. According to Weir, the volume of submissions is so great that even if he worked nonstop with no new material coming in, it would likely take a year or two to catch up on the backlog.
Notable Discoveries and the Value of Preservation
The site has become a repository for rare and significant historical items, such as a communications plan for the June 6, 1944, D-Day Allied landings in France—a highlight among the many treasures sent in by contributors. Lapierre, a frequent visitor, remarked on the unique items featured: "He's got articles on his website that I don't know where he would have got them from." For many families, the site has been a gateway to unexpected discoveries about relatives' wartime contributions, sometimes learning for the first time that a family member had served at all.
Ensuring Navy History Lives On
For Weir, the heart of the project is the outreach from people around the world, each seeking to preserve a piece of navy history before it is lost. He recalled correspondence from a woman discovering her grandfather's military service long after his passing, thanks to the website. He acknowledges that much would have been "buried forever," especially personal photographs and documents often discarded after a veteran's death. For Posterity's Sake now stands as Weir's personal way of ensuring the stories, faces, and sacrifices of Canadian navy veterans are documented and remembered for future generations.
Source: cbc.ca.
