Monday Monuments and Memorials – The Fighting Newfoundlander, St. John’s

The Fighting Newfoundlander

Bowring Park, St. John’s

Basil Grotto, sculptor

Thomas Pitman posed

Lifelike details

The Fighting Newfoundlander stands in Bowring Park, St. John’s, NL, as “A Tribute to the Undying Memory of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment 1914-1918.” British sculptor Captain Basil Gotto also sculpted the Caribou Monuments. Corporal Thomas Pitman posed for the statue. A survivor of the 1916 Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, Pitman received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and the Military Medal (MM). The statue was unveiled in 1922.

Click on any photo to view the gallery.

Scroll down in the history of Bowring Park for the story of how Pitman came to pose for the statue and the lifelike details that Gotto captured.