Monday Monuments and Memorials – Cenotaph Park, Port Elgin, ON

Cenotaph Park monuments honour those from Port Elgin and Saugeen Township

Cenotaph Park – at 610 Mill St, east of Goderich St (Hwy 21), in Port Elgin, Ontario – opened in September 2006. War memorials from around town were gathered in the park, surrounded by welcoming gardens and benches to rest and contemplate.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – War Memorial, Mildmay, ON

WW1 memorial at Mildmay, Ontario

In a small park in Mildmay, on Absalom St W, just SW of Elora St S (Hwy 9), a war memorial honours the men of the village of Mildmay and surrounding township of Carrick who were killed in WW1.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Captain Victor McKechnie, Walkerton, ON

Citation presented to Victor McKechnie by Town of Walkerton Preparedness League, 1920

Donald McKechnie Ritzenhein has kindly permitted me to publish a photo of the citation presented to his grandfather by the Town of Walkerton Preparedness League in 1920.

My grandfather, Victor McKechnie, left his hometown of Walkerton on 21 June 1916, together with his brother Malcolm, and 1300 volunteer recruits, as part of the 160^th “Bruce” Battalion. Malcolm was killed during the war, but my grandfather not only survived but stayed in the army for two more years after the war ended. On 24 September 1920 he became the last soldier to return home to Walkerton.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – War Memorial Park, Walkerton, ON

Monument in Walkerton War Memorial Park

Monument in Walkerton War Memorial Park

Some of the WW1 names on the Veterans Walk of Honour, Walkerton, Ontario

War Memorial Park, at the corner of Jane and Colborne Streets in Walkerton, Ontario, started with a monument. Several elements have been added over the years.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Saugeen First Nation Roll of Honour and Southampton War Memorial

War memorial and cross, Southampton, Ontario

WW1 honour roll, Southampton, Ontario

War memorial for Saugeen First Nation, Ontario

WW1 honour roll, Saugeen First Nation, Ontario

Two similar monuments, less than 5 km apart. Five men honoured on both.

Southampton is a vacation town on Lake Huron at the mouth of the Saugeen River in Bruce County, Ontario. Saugeen First Nation is just northeast of the town, an Ojibway community also bordering Lake Huron and the Saugeen. Young men in both the Ojibway and the settler communities enlisted and fought in WW1.