Ontario War Memorials: March 2023

Saturday 18 March 2023

Marathon

Location: Thunder Bay District N 48.71786 N -86.37878

On Peninsula Road, across the street from the Recreation Centre/Arena, in the Canadian Tire parking lot.

This monument, located in Marathon Veterans Square, was installed on behalf of the local Royal Canadian Legion Branch 183 and the Town of Marathon. The main feature of the memorial is a LAVIII Light Armoured Vehicle supplied by Canada Company. Beside the LAV is a white cross memorial on a fieldstone base. Two black marble plaques are positioned beside the LAV, one which lists the local soldiers who served in Afghanistan and one which lists the sponsors of this project. There is also a plaque fixed to the side of the vehicle which briefly describes the Afghan mission.

At the time of my visit, this seemed to be strictly an Afghanistan memorial, although the same location is listed as the site of the town cenotaph which previously displayed a plaque honouring those who served in the World Wars. It is my hope that the town has re-installed this plaque at the same park and that it was simply "in progress" during my visit. I found the location of the park to be very odd, in the corner of a large retail parking lot, although we should not overlook the generous donation of the land to make this memorial possible.

Marker text:

LAV plaque:

"In recognition and memory of the efforts of approximately

40,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel who served and

the 162 Canadians who died in the cause of bringing peace

and freedom to the people of Afghanistan"

Canada Company

Soldiers plaque:

AFGHANISTAN

2001 - 2014

SERVICE RECOGNITION

OMER LAVOIE LCOL

MICHAEL HAMILTON WO

LEWIS LAVOIE MWO

RICHARD COOPER WO

ROBERT WILSON MCPL

NICHOLAS RAYNER MCPL

TYLER RAYNER CPL

GARY MARONESE MCPL

JASON PORTEOUS MAJ

KEVIN MILLER CAPT

TANYA WOITO CPL

CHRISTOPHER HEADGE CPL

MATTHEW HYSHKA TPR

KEITH LEFORT CPL

JAMIE JACOBS TPR

ISEAK BOUCHER CPL

CIVILIANS

MICK VINCENT

LLOYD BRYAR

HEIDI ARTHUR

Base of cross:

COMRADE

DYER

AND

CREW

Sunday 12 March 2023

Oshweken

Location: Brant County N 43.06906 W -80.11822

In the park at the corner of Chiefswood Road and the Fourth Line.

Oshweken is a rural community located within the Six Nations of the Grand River Native Reserve. It is the site of the reserve's governmental and administrative offices. This is the largest community within the reserve, one of the most successful and prosperous native reserves in Canada. The people of this community have a long and proud history, some of which is celebrated and remembered here in the Six Nations Veterans Memorial Park.

The cenotaph honours the names of the members of the Six Nations and Mississauga Indians who lost their lives fighting for our country. It also lists several of the main wars and battles in which they paid the ultimate price. Within the park are also historical plaques which tell the story of some of the local history, a cannon presumed to be from the War of 1812, and several benches for the visitor to take their time to rest and reflect on the past. The park truly has a feel of Remembrance that can only be explained by visiting and closing your eyes while in deep thought of the history of this place and its people.

Marker text:

Park stone:

Front:

SIX NATIONS

VETERANS

MEMORIAL PARK

LEST WE FORGET

Back:

"THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT

GROW OLD; AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM NOR THE YEARS

CONDEMN. AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE

MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

Cenotaph:

Front:

LT. BRANT CAMERON D. LT. MOSES JAMES D.

AARON WILLIAM LOTTRIDGE WELBY

CLAUS ISSAC MARTIN WALTER

CURLEY LLOYD MILLER HURON S.

FISH REUBEN MONTOUR WILLIAM

GARLOW JAMES NEWHOUSE HENRY

GOOSEY DAVID PETERS ALEX

GROAT SAMUEL B. SANDY ADAM

HILL HIRAM SMITH WILLIAM

HILL ROY STAATS FRANK

HOMER HARRISON THOMAS CHARLES

ISAAC FRANK TOBICOE MAXWELL

ISAAC JACOB VANEVERY FRED

JAMIESON ARTHUR VYCE JAMES

JOHN PAUL WALKER FRANK

JOHNSON JAMES W. WILSON JOHN

JOHNSON PERCY WILSON JAMES

LICKERS ROY WILSON SIMON

LICKERS THOMAS WILSON LOUIS

LICKERS WILLIAM YELLOW NEWTON

JOHNSON WILLIAM H.

1914 - 1918

Right side:

HILL 70

PASSCHENDAELE

AMIENS

ARRAS

MONS

IN MEMORY OF

THOSE WHO SERVED

AND DIED IN THE

KOREAN CONFLICT

1950 - 1953

Back:

DIEPPE SICILY ITALY

NORTH-WEST EUROPE

ERNEST C. BRADLEY MAXWELL J. KING

WILFRED H. BRADLEY LAWRENCE A. LAFORME

JACOB S. BRANT WALTER H. LEWIS

ELWOOD M. BURNHAM FRANCIS MARACLE

LESLIE J. CAPTON FRANNLYN MARTIN

JOSEPH E. HENRY WILFRED OBEDIAH

NORMAN W. HENRY WELBY L. PATTERSON

GEORGE L. HILL RANDALL A. POWLESS

HAROLD JAMIESON HURON L. SMITH

DAVID E. JOHN WILLIAM G. SMITH

ERNEST A. JONATHAN ROY H. WILLIAMS

GA-YO-DEN-SE-RA YAH-TEN-O-WEN-NA

Erected to the memory of the members of

The Six Nations and Mississauga Indians

who fell in the Great War and to those who served.

1939 - 1945

Left side:

YPRES

FESTUBERT

GIVENCHY

SOMME

VIMY RIDGE

IN MEMORY OF

THOSE WHO SERVED

AND DIED IN THE

VIETNAM CONFLICT

1960 - 1975

Historic Plaque:

THE SIX NATIONS

COMMEMORATING THE LOYAL

SERVICES AND UNSWERVING FI-

DELITY OF THE SIX NATIONS OF

IROQUOIS INDIANS TO THE BRITISH

EMPIRE IN THE SEVEN YEARS WAR,

THE WAR OF THE AMERICAN REV-

OLUTION, AND IN THE DEFENCE

OF UPPER CANADA IN 1812-14

AND 1837-38.

(Repeated in French)

ERECTED IN 1934

Sunday 5 March 2023

Lyndhurst

Location: United Counties of Leeds and Grenville

N 44.53407 W -76.14676

In front of the Legion, 306 Lyndhurst Road.

Lyndhurst came into being with the building by Wallis Sunderlin, a Vermont founderer, in 1801, of Ontario's first successful iron smelter. The location of the ironworks became known as Furnace Falls. The iron works consisted of both a furnace for the production of cast iron and a forge for the manufacture of wrought iron. The iron works were destroyed by fire in 1811 and attempts to revive the smelter failed, and the site was essentially abandoned. However the building of a grist mill by Charles and Jonas Jones in 1828 created a revival of the village. In 1851 the village was renamed Lyndhurst, after John Singleton Copley, Baron Lyndhurst.

Lyndhurst is home to the oldest bridge in existence in Ontario. The stone masonry constructed three span bridge, built in 1856-57, is still in regular use today. In 1986 it was structurally re-enforced with concrete with the exterior restored to its original appearance. Several Ontario Historic Plaques are located throughout this small but pretty rural village.

This memorial is a tall red granite shaft, located in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 504. Engraved on the stone are the names of the brave men of this community who gave their lives during the World Wars.

Photos taken by Louise Bellec.