Westmeath

 

Location:  Renfrew County        N 45.817719     W 76.887735

Township of Westmeath Veteran's Park, Corner of Jessie Street and Synton Street.

 

Located in the scenic Ottawa Valley, Westmeath along with the former municipalities of Cobden, Ross and Beachburg was amalgamated into was is now the Township of Whitewater Region, which was named after the world-famous whitewater on the Ottawa River, popular for kayaking and rafting. Westmeath is also in an historic area, where not too far away, Samuel de Champlain's astrolabe was found nearly 254 years after it was lost. Also, Cobden which was founded by circumstances as a land road was needed to travel on instead of using the treacherous part of the Ottawa River.

The Township of Westmeath Veteran's Park, was part of a project to commemorate 50 years of the end of WWII. The inauguration was on August 9th, 1997 at 14h00, where there was a Legion Parade of Veterans and a decoration service. 3 local Legion Branches participated and around 400 Townships residents attended.

Situated just across from the Westmeath Recreation Centre and the fire department, the Veteran's park occupies a small portion of a block that has also a baseball park. A small brick layered path leads to the monument which is complemented by some shrubs and tall cedars behind with our national flag. Most of the time, the names of the local unselfish war heroes who lost their lives are inscribed on the front of the cenotaph, not for this one, one has to look at the back.

***Special thanks once again to Louise Bellec for the photos and description. 

 

Marker text:

Front of stele:

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THIS TOWNSHIP
WHO HELPED PRESERVE
A FREE NATION

WORLD WAR I  1914 - 1918

WORLD WAR II  1939 - 1945

KOREAN WAR  1950 - 1953

LEST WE FORGET

 

 

Back of stele:

IN MEMORY OF THOSE
WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE

WORLD WAR I

HUGH ED BROWNLEE

DONALD COFFEE
ARNOLD DAVIDSON
LYLE G. DOUGHERTY

LOUIS ETHIER
LEMOINE GERVAIS

GEORGE L. GRAHAM

VERNON GRAHAM
WILLIS HOWARD
JOHN McGONEGAL

WILLIAM R. MUCKLE

JAMES PATTERSON

HAROLD G. SMITH
WALTER THOMPSON

WORLD WAR II

CLINTON B. BERRY
WILLIAM BLACKMORE
GERALD BROMLEY
WELDON CARNEGIE
WILSON COSTELLO
WESLEY G. DAVIDSON
STEWART ECKFORD
CARSON FOY
WARRINGTON FOY
EDWARD GERVAIS
HARRY GERVAIS
RENAUD GERVAIS

FRANCIS HARNEY
ELMER S. KENNY
J. IRWIN LABOW
KENNETH LADEROUTE
NEIL LAFRENIER
LYLE LAMKIE
HAILEN LAPORTE
JOHN MELLISH
ELMER MUTTON
SYDNEY PRESCOTT
MERVIN ROBINSON
GORDON ROLLINS
ROBERT H. WILSON