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