New Hamburg

Location:  Waterloo Region     N 43 22.686   W 80 42.751
On Huron Street, between the library and bridge over the Nith River.
 
 
This is the third memorial to stand on this site, since the first was erected in 1922.  The first cenotaph was erected with the plan of adding a bronze statue to the top of a stone cairn, with the names of the dead of the Great War engraved forever on a bronze plaque.  A captured German field artillery piece was also placed beside the cenotaph, but that mysteriously disappeared on Halloween night.  When promised funding sources dried up, the statue was never completed and left unfinished until 1929 when the stone cairn was replaced with a new concrete memorial with all the names of the lost heroes of New Hamburg and surrounding area engraved into the concrete.  This memorial lasted until the weather had gotten the better of it and costly repairs were needed.  It was decided by the powers that presided over the current town council and local Legion, that a third cenotaph was needed to replace the badly worn concrete version.
In May of 1991, a new light grey granite cenotaph was unveiled.  The newest version of the memorial had an additional sixteen names added to the list from the original cenotaph, this to include the names of those lost from Wilmot Township.  Erected by Shuh Memorials of Kitchener, at a cost of $28,000, the new cenotaph also contains a time capsule in its base.  The granite stone will last much longer than any previous memorial that has stood in this spot.
The cenotaph of New Hamburg has quite a history, but is is refreshing to see that the need to remember the dead of the Great Wars has overcome all obstacles to forever stand as a reminder of the sacrifices made by so many local men.




Marker text:
Front:
WORLD WAR 1
1914 - 1918

LT. RUSSELL WILLIAMS
CPL. LESLIE E. SHEPPARD  M.M.
L.C. ELGIN E. EBY
PT.E CHARLES T. DANIELLS
PTE. HERBERT E. ERBACH
GNR. ALVIN J. FORLER
PTE. GLENNIE R. GOEBEL
PTE. WILFRID C. LASCHINGER
PTE. ELMER KASTER
PTE. ALBERT E. MERNER
PTE. IVAN B. MARTY
PTE. HENRY L. McFADYEN  DCM
PTE. WALTER W. PERRY  M.M.
PTE. JOHN E. SPAHR
PTE. JOHN STRAUCH
PTE. NATHANIEL STIER
PTE. GEORGE H. SCHMITT
PTE. THEODORE SCHULER
PTE. CLINTON T. WALKER
PTE. CHARLES D.H. YOUNG



WORLD WAR II
1939 - 1945

CAPT. NILE H. BIER
F/O ROBERT W. HONDERICH
F/O CHARLES W. HOSTETLER
F/O RUSSEL A. SALTZBERRY
SGT. HUBERT L. DITNER
WOII JOHN K. ROSS
CPL. DONALD J. MILNE M.M.
L.C. SAMUEL W. FOSTER
L.C. KENNETH L. FRIED
SIG. EARL JANTZI
L.A.C. ERHARDT G. WAGNER
SPR. IRVIN INGOLD
PTE. WALTER C. KURT
PTE. ALBERT G. REINHART
PTE. JOHN HENRY STIEFELMEYER
PTE. BURKLE TOMAN
 


KOREAN WAR
1950 - 1953

SGT. GERALD W. KOCH


LEST WE FORGET
IN HONOURED MEMORY OF
THE MEN OF
WILMOT TOWNSHIP
WHO FOUGHT AND DIED IN
THE GREAT WARS
AND
1950 - KOREA - 1953

1914  -  1918

1939  -  1939