Canada’s Dream Shall Be of Them

Is your creativity enriched or curtailed by Twitter’s 140-character limit? Imagine the challenge to families of those killed in WW1, asked to keep an epitaph for their loved one to 66 characters.

The Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission decided not to repatriate hundreds of thousands bodies. Rather, the dead were buried with their comrades close to where they fell. A standard stone marks each grave, regardless of rank. But next of kin were invited to add a personal inscription. About half took up the offer. Together, these epitaphs form a striking record of grief and memory.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – War Memorial, Durham, ON

Durham, Ontario war memorial lists 36 names from WW1

German mittlerer Minenwerfer in Durham Veterans Memorial Park

Veterans Memorial Park, corner of Mill and Albert Streets, Durham. A bronze statue of a soldier stands atop a red granite monument, “in memory of the men of Durham and vicinity who gave their lives for humanity in the Great War.” They are named on the front and right sides – 36 in all. Ranks other than private are indicated.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – War Memorial, Smiths Falls, ON

Peace dove fronts Smiths Falls war memorial

Names of Smiths Falls citizens who died in WW1

The war memorial in Smiths Falls War Memorial stands in Veterans Memorial Park on Beckwith St S at Confederation Dr (Canal St on some maps), next to the Rideau River lock station. The grey granite, rough-cut at the bottom, rises into a cross. Torches are carved into the foreshortened crossbar. On the front, a bronze rifle at reverse arms is draped with maple leaves. A peace dove with laurel swoops down above it.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park, France

Newfoundland caribou facing the former foe with head thrown high in defiance

Caribou overlooks names of Newfoundlanders with no known grave

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park

Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow!

This past Saturday, July 1, marked the 150^th anniversary of Canada’s confederation, a day for the country to rejoice, reflect and reconcile. In Newfoundland and Labrador, it was also Memorial Day, a solemn day of remembrance of the single greatest disaster in Newfoundland history. At Beaumont-Hamel, the Newfoundland Regiment was virtually wiped out in half an hour on the first morning of the Somme Offensive, July 1, 1916. Of the 780 men who went forward, 233 were dead, 386 wounded and 91 reported missing (later assumed dead). While the casualty rate for many battalions was over 50%, for the Newfoundland Regiment it was 90%. All the officers were killed or wounded. On one of the bloodiest days of the war, only one other battalion had a higher casualty rate.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Western Canada College Cenotaph, Calgary, AB

Western Canada College monument in Calgary

Western Canada College monument dedicated to 48 who died

This monument commemorates those boys of Western Canada College who, at the dawn of their manhood, died for their country in the Great War.

Western Canada College (now Western Canada High School, and always a secondary school despite its original name) lives on 17^th Ave SW at 6^th St SW in Calgary. WCC was a founded in 1903 as a British-style private school for boys. After WW1, it was sold to the Calgary Board of Education. While the original WCC buildings were replaced in later decades, the cenotaph remains to commemorate students and graduates who were killed in WW1.

Monday Monuments and Memorials –Edwardsburg Township War Memorial, Spencerville, ON

Edwardsburg Township War Memorial, Spencerville

Names on Spencerville War Memorial

The war memorial erected by the citizens of the Township of Edwardsburg stands in front of the municipal offices (now the Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal) on Centre St in Spencerville. It is dedicated “in loving memory of our heroes who fell in the Great War, 1914—1918. Their names shall never perish. Lest we forget.” A young soldier stands over the 27 names for WW1, listed in mostly chronological order of their death.

Let’s look at the first and last WW1 names.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Victoria College Memorial Tablet, University of Toronto, Toronto

Bronze memorial tablet at Victoria College, Toronto

A bronze tablet on the right side of the main entrance to the Old Vic building on the U of T campus is dedicated to the memory of 75 Victoria College students and graduates who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918. An angel mourns on either side of the college crest, under the assurance that “they were valiant in life, triumphant in death.” The tablet, designed by sculptor Alfred Howell, was presented by the Alumni and Alumnae Associations and dedicated on 12 October 1923.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – The Last Post, Collingwood, ON

Collingwood war memorial

The Last Post, Collingwood

Honor Roll includes nursing sister Gertrude Andrews

Honor Roll includes nursing sister Mae Sampson

Collingwood Honor Roll

The Last Post is the name of the statue that tops the WW1 war memorial in Collingwood, Ontario. It stands in front of the old train station (now the Collingwood Museum), at 45 St Paul St. The driveway behind it is Veterans Cres.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Frederick W Campbell VC and S Lewis Honey VC DCM MM, Mount Forest, ON

Frederick W Campbell VC

Lt Stanley Lewis Honey, VC DCM MM

Two historical plaques stand guard in front of the Mount Forest Legion , 140 King St W. They honour two Victoria Cross recipients from the area.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Soldiers’ Monument, Paisley, ON

Paisley, Ontario monument in village square. Paisley names listed under village crest

Names from Bruce and Greenock Townships

Names from Elderslie and Saugeen Townships

These laid the world away … Rupert Brooke

The soldiers’ monument in Paisley, Ontario stands in a square bound by Queen, Goldie and Water Streets, close to the confluence of the Saugeen and Teeswater Rivers. The monument, made of grey Stanstead granite, is a 15 ft pedestal on which stands a 7 ft soldier. The same figure from the McIntosh Granite Co is on the cenotaph in Picton, Ontario.

The monument was dedicated in May 1922, “in honored memory of the men of Paisley and adjoining Townships of Bruce, Elderslie, Greenock and Saugeen who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914 – 1919.” The 27 May edition of the Globe reported about 2000 people in attendance: