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By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com

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The names of 68,000 Canadians who died in the First World War will flash onto the memorial wall of the Alumni Memorial Building at the University of New Brunswick from Nov. 4-11, sunset to sunrise.

During the First World War, more than 2,400 of the 27,000 New Brunswickers serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force died in active service. Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil: A Project of Remembrance is produced by actor-director R.H. Thomson, Martin Conboy and Canada's National History Society.

The Provincial Capital Commission is facilitating the showing in partnership with the provincial government, UNB and Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. Its national partners are Veterans Affairs Canada and Canada's National History Society.

The remains of the fallen soldiers - some identified, some not - are scattered in battlefields or buried in European cemeteries.

"For those who were left behind, the vigil is a way to bring them home," said Lee Ellen Pottie, executive director of the commission. "For all of New Brunswick's war dead, the vigil is a means to remember them, to honour them and to contemplate their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families."

The UNB building was built in 1955 to honour the university's students, faculty and alumni who died during both world wars. Just below the alumni building is Memorial Hall, built in 1924 to honour the 35 UNB alumni who lost their lives during the Great War.

"UNB's participation in Canada's military is an important piece of New Brunswick's military history," said UNB president John McLaughlin. "It includes the officer training corps; the enlistment of students and faculty; Alexander College, formed to assist in educating demobilized soldiers after the Second World War; and the current Gregg Centre of the Study of War and Society, named after Brig. Milton F. Gregg, VC, a great war veteran."

For more information on the vigil, visit http://www.1914-1918.ca.