Kemptville

 
 

Location:  United Counties of Leeds and Grenville
N 45 00.871   W 75 38.600
300 Prescott Street, in front of the former North Grenville High School.

The memorial was unveiled in June 1922, to honour those lost in the Great War.  Made of seven blocks of grey Stanstead granite from Quebec, including the statue of a young grieving soldier.  Originally erected in front of the Post Office, it was moved to its current location in November 1961.  The names of the men lost in WWII were also added at some time before the move.  In 1988, at the request of a legionnaire of the Royal Canadian Legion Kemptville Branch #212, the Korean War was also engraved into the cenotaph.  In October of 1992, the memorial was viciously attacked by vandals and the head of the statue was decapitated, and the rifle was damaged.  Thanks to the work of the former local police department, the head was relocated and re-attached.
Thanks to a grant in 2006, the memorial underwent further restoration and the name of Private Blake Williamson, who was killed in Afghanistan, was added to the list of lost local heroes.  The cenotaph was re-dedicated in a ceremony in June 2007.
Interesting to note is that this memorial is of similar design to three other Ontario memorials: those being found in Cape Croker, Sunderland and Wiarton.
The age and patina of the statue are showing the years of weathering and abuse, but the sentinel still stands proudly over the town, the memories of those engraved in its stone forever remembered.




Marker text:
Front:
IN FLANDERS FIELDS     WHERE POPPIES GROW

ERECTED TO
OUR HONOURED DEAD
AND THOSE WHO CARRIED ON
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914-----1918
FROM KEMPTVILLE
OXFORD & SOUTH GOWER
1939-----1945

KOREA
1950-----1953
 





Left side:
MAJOR H. HUTCHINS
CAPT. J.H. MacDIARMID
LIEUT. A.E. OAKES
SGT. A. DILLANE
SGT. J. BENNETT
SGT. R.P. BARR  D.C.M.
PTE. G. GREY
PTE. R. MACKEY
PTE. H.J. CARSON
PTE. H. MAXWELL
PTE. N.B. LAPLANTE
PTE. C.G. O'LEARY
PTE. A. ARCAND
PTE. T.A. ARCAND
PTE. H. ANDREWS
PTE. J.E. ARCAND
PTE. W. STEWART
PTE. C.A. HURLBERT
1939-----1945
L/BDR. H.W. COWIE
GNR. A.S. ROBINSON
PTE. D.L. CRAWFORD
PTE. S. BLACK
PTE. G. WARNER
PTE. J. SHEARER







Right side:
PTE. M.L. CARLIN
PTE. J. MORAN
PTE. T.J. BECKETT
PTE. A. CALEY
PTE. E. DAVIE
PTE. G. HOWEY
PTE. J.E. MCCRUM
PTE. H.M. McCRUM
PTE. E. HASTING
PTE. A. IRVINE
PTE. S. HUDSON
PTE. W. COPPING
PTE. J.A. JEFFREY
PTE. J. HUMPHREY
PTE. A. MacDIARMID
PTE. A. WORLDS
PTE. A. SCOTT
PTE. I. COOPER
PTE. J.A. STEWART
1939-----1945
P/O W.L. BUCHANAN
F/SGT. H.L. BROWN
F/SGT. G.J.H McELROY
F/SGT. D.D. TAYLOR
SGT. P.R. ROACH
CPL. E. LEACH






Back:
AFGHANISTAN
PTE. B. WILLIAMSON

YPRES
FESTUBERT
GIVENCHY
ST. ELOI
THE SOMME
VIMY RIDGE
HILL 70

LENS
PASSCHENDAELE
AMIENS
ARRAS
CAMBRAI
LE CATEAU
MONS
 

Bracebridge

 

Location:  Muskoka District     N 45 02.569   W 79 18.829
In Memorial Park, at the corner of Manitoba Street and Kimberley Avenue.
 

Memorial Park was created in 1900 as a memorial to Fred Wasdell and James Findlay who were killed at Paardeberg, South Africa in the Boer War.  At the time a fountain was added to the park, although the water was never connected, and the fountain never flowed.  When the current larger memorial was erected in 1959, the fountain was relocated to a different park.  With the cooperation of the Historical Society and Town Council, the fountain has been relocated to Memorial Park and now flows in glory and honour of its fallen sons.
The granite cenotaph was erected in 1959, to honour those lost in the World Wars and Korea.  The names of the dead are forever engraved in the attractive monument.  Surrounding the well-landscaped memorial are several columns with the names of others who served during the World Wars.
This is a very well maintained and appealing memorial park, a fitting tribute to the heroes of the past.



Marker text:
Front:
LEST
WE
FORGET

IN MEMORY OF
THE MEN OF BRACEBRIDGE
AND DISTRICT
WHO MADE
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE





Left side:
(Army crest)

WORLD WAR I

JOHN C. ALLEN
TIMOTHY R. ALLEN
JAMES BARRETT
HAROLD B. BATES
ARTHUR H. BURRIDGE
GEORGE CLARK
JOHN E. COLE
STANLEY DICKIE
ROY FOSTER
EDWARD FRADETTE
PERCY FURLONG
WILLIAM GRIMWOOD
DONALD JEFFRY
DOUGLAS JOHNSON
RONALD KERR
ISADORE LABRIE
HARRY LANGMAID
BERT LEAVETT
WILLIAM H. LILLY
SYDNEY E. LOUNT
ALEX W. MATHIESON
ELMER MAYES
ALFRED MILLER
ROBERT MORELAND
BLAIN MacDONALD
SAMUEL MacDONALD
RAE NELSON OLSON
W. CLAUDE PERRY
JAMES POLLOCK
JAMES ROBERTSON
PERCY ROBINSON
ALBERT RUTHERFORD
CHARLES WORMALD
GEORGE LOGAN
 



 
Right side:
(RCAF crest)

WORLD WAR II

T.M. ARMSTRONG
JACK BOYER
GILBERT BOYER
HADDO BRUCE
STANLEY BULL
JOHN BUTLER
WALTER COWAN
LEMUEL DAVIS
ALLEN DOLEY
HAROLD N. DIXON
KENNETH EARNSHAW
IVAN EINARSON
ROY ENNIS
JACK FOSTER
FRANK J. GREEN
MEL HAMMELL
JAMES HILLMAN
KENNETH HAMMOND
ROY HINES
J.K. HOOTON
J.C. IRVINE
JAMES JOSELIN
DOUGLAS KAYE
GERALD KINGSHOTT
WILLIAM G. LAUT
JACK LOUCKS
REX C. MANN
LESLIE McEACHERN
WILFRED McDONALD
GLEN McKAY
JAMES NICHOLS
ALLEN C. OLIMER
JOHN ROBERTS
 




Back:
(RCN crest)

WORLD WAR II

ROY O. RUTTER
RAYMOND SANDER
ESMOND SCOVELL
M.J. STEVENSON
AUBREY SHAPTER
DONALD SHAPTER
JAMES SPECK
L. KEITH TAYLOR
ALBERT TRAVES
FLOYD TIBBETT
DONALD THOMPSON
GORDON WARNICA


KOREAN
WAR

DONALD BRADSHAW
ROY ELLIOTT


BOER WAR

FRED WASDELL
JAMES FINDLAY

Ridgeway / Crystal Beach

 
 
Location:  Niagara Region     N 42 52.559   W 79 03.577
In the cemetery at the corner of Ridgeway Road and Farr Avenue, under the water tower.

This location in the Crystal Beach Cemetery is home to two memorials and the final resting place of several veterans.
The first memorial was originally erected in Queen's Circle, in the centre of the village of Crystal Beach, in 1921.  It was moved to this site in 1999.
The second memorial is an Honour Roll of men lost from this area in the wars of the 20th century.  It is a more modern memorial, erected by the Ridgeway Branch 230 of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Not far from this location is the National Historic Site cairn marking the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway, a key skirmish in the Fenian Raids.
 



Marker text:
Crystal Beach memorial:
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
LOCAL VETERANS WHO SERVED
CANADIAN ARMED FORCES
IN THE 20TH CENTURY

THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED AT QUEEN'S CIRCLE,
VILLAGE OF CRYSTAL BEACH CIRCA 1921.
IT WAS MOVED TO ITS PRESENT SITE IN 1999

AN INITIATIVE OF THE CRYSTAL BEACH VIDEO GROUP
(CATHY HERBERT, PAUL KASSAY, JANET TRUCKENBRODT)

LEST WE FORGET
 




Honour Roll:
Front:
(legion crest)
RIDGEWAY BRANCH 230

WORLD WAR I
1914 - 1918

WORLD WAR II
1939 - 1945

KOREAN WAR

VIETNAM WAR

AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT

NATO PEACEKEEPING
MISSIONS

IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR
FALLEN COMRADES WHO MADE
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE





Back:
HONOUR ROLL

ERNEST BAKER
R. BURD
LLOYD ELSLEY
MELVIN MacKAY
OSCAR NOYES
HARRY SHISLER
HERBERT WHALEN
WALTER (RED) BAKER
W. ROSS BERTAAN
ROBERT CLIMENHAGE
E. TED HUTCHINGS
KENNETH JANSEN
RAYMOND JOHNSTON
HERBERT SCHMITT
RUSSELL SMITH
KEITH TEAL
JOHN WILHELM
ALBERT STORM

JOHN BRIGHT
WALTER DERRICK
JOHN HALAVIN
JOSEPH NEAR
LEONARD PORTER
ALFRED TIDMARSH
CARL BAKER
R. BARRETT
CHARLES BROWN
BERT MORGAN
JOE NIGH
JOHN REBSTOCK
ALBERT REICHELT
JAMES SHERK
HAROLD SMITH
ART WALKER
DENNIS BROWN

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE
 

Norwich

 
 
Location:  Oxford County     N 42 58.848   W 80 35.800
On Jerdon Street, just west of Stover Street South, in front of Emily Stowe Public School.
 

 
A very beautiful memorial featuring a statue of a Weeping Lady.  The statue, made of Italian Carrara marble, is said by the Oxford County website to represent the local "Quaker response of pacifism and the futility of war". 

"How interesting it is that the Norwich Gazette of May 26, 1921 had written about the sculpted marble figure of the weeping lady recently unveiled at the Norwich High School Memorial Park in the following words:
The whole idea is allegorical. It is a personification of the Spirit of Canada, bowed in grief and sorrow and weeping for her lost sons. This intends to perpetuate the memory of the disastrous results of the Great World War."
Source:   http://www.norwichgazette.com/2017/09/12/notes-on-norwichs-weeping-lady-cenotaph

That being said, the names of those local men who died in the World Wars, those who bravely answered the call of King and country and made the supreme sacrifice for our freedom and forever engraved in the Scottish Granite stele that supports the grieving lady.  The memorial was unveiled on Victoria Day in 1921 in front of the high school.  It was moved to this location in 1952, and the names of the dead from WWII were added at that time.  The names of those lost in WWI are engraved on the front and back of the memorial, while those lost in WWII are found on the sides.
Some folks would suggest that this statue helped influence the cloaked Mother Canada figure, part of the Vimy Memorial commissioned by the Canadian government.
The Norwich Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion recently had some cleaning and restoration work done on the memorial.


 
Marker text:
Front:
ERECTED BY THE VILLAGE OF NORWICH
& TOWNSHIP OF NORTH NORWICH,
TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICE & SACRIFICE
OF THEIR CITIZEN SOLDIERS IN THE WORLD WAR
1914   -   "LEST WE FORGET"   -   1918

MAJ. T.D. SNEATH. M.C.
LIEUT. J.F. DICKSON
LIEUT. P. JOHNSON
LIEUT. A. ROWE
CORP. H. COLES
L.CORP. A. STRODE
SGT. C.W. BEATTIE





Right side:
WILLIAM KENNEDY
JACK B. KENNEDY
HOWARD LOSSING
DONALD LEES
NORMAN MELDRUM
THEO. McCREADY
BEV. NEWTON
MATTHEW POTTS
ROBERT RICE
ROBERT ROLOSON
BROCK ROBERTSON
ROBERT REID
ARTHUR SMITH
ARTHUR STIENSTRA
LeCLARE WALKER
JOHN YULE
1939 - 1945





Rear:
PTE. R. CATTEL
PTE. JNO. STEWART
PTE. E. KELLY
PTE. H. PRIDDLE
PTE. R. NEWTON
PTE. W.A. HUGHES
PTE. FRED CROXFORD
PTE. A.E. CRABBE
PTE. P.L. HAINER
PTE. H.J. SACKRIDER
PTE. A. MESSECAR
PTE. FRED. BLEAKLEY
PTE. H. BARNES
PTE. B. EDWARDS 

PTE. E. SCANLON
PTE. H. SACKRIDER
PTE. G.E. DENNIS
PTE. R. BUCK
PTE. H. PEARSON
PTE. G. McGREGOR
PTE. C. BEATTIE
PTE. S. SHELLINGTON
PTE. B. POOLE
PTE. J. McNAUGHTON
PTE. W. LOSSING
PTE. H. MONEY
PTE. J.L. HARRIS
PTE. W.B. EDMONDS






Left side:
ROBERT ALEXANDER
NORMAN ANDREWS
RUSSELL AVEY
JACK BOWMAN
L. BOYCE
ROGER BURRILL
JEFFREY CHALK
REG. COLE
GEOFFREY COWARD
HARRY DAIR
ALEX. DAIKEN
RAY L. FRAIN
HARVEY HAYES
RAYMOND HOOPER
JOHN KENNERLY
1939 - 1945