A life-size statue of Private Arnold Logan in uniform was placed at Lower Muncey (St Paul’s) Cemetery on April 29, 1918, by Lumley & Doan marble dealers. The cemetery is near Arnold's old home at Munsee-Delaware Nation. The statue was placed on the base of the family tombstone which was previously dedicated. Arnold was killed in action on April 26, 1916, while serving with the of the 1st Battalion, Canadian Infantry. The statue was erected in the family plot by members of Arnold’s unit and former Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen co-workers.
Logan was born in 1896 in Munsee-Delaware. He lived with his family in a log cabin (which still stands) until sent to Mt. Elgin Residential School nearby. On September 14, 1914, he became one of the first young men to join the 25th Elgin Regiment and went overseas where he worked on railway-building, engineering and then was assigned to specialized training on the machine gun.
Prior to enlisting, he worked as a fireman on the Pere Marquette railway out of St. Thomas, Ontario. He was very well-liked by fellow railway employees and soldiers.
There were many reasons Indigenous young men joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force, including as an escape from the horrors of residential schools, for a pay cheque and three meals a day, for the opportunity to show themselves as citizens and avoid their official status as mere wards of the Crown, even as a chance to highlight a proud warrior tradition.
Canada came of age during the First World War, but Indigenous soldiers were all but forgotten by the country for which they fought. They were not entitled to land; they had no home territory; they were not awarded Veterans’ benefits unless they renounced their Indigenous status.
