Kamsack Cenotaph

Unveiled by the town of Kamsack on 8 September 1921, this memorial was erected in honour of the local war dead of the First World War. A plaque was added in 1956 to also honour the local fallen of the Second World War. In August, 1919, the Kamsack Branch of the Great War Veterans' Association held a special meeting. A committee was assembled to approach the town council regarding the construction of a memorial to honour fallen comrades. In May, 1920, the town council accepted the offer made by the Hopper Marble and Granite Works of Winnipeg for a monument. On September 18th, 1921, the Lieutenant Governor and M.W. Newlands did the honour of unveiling the new memorial. In September, 1920, two German machine guns arrived from the Commissioner of War Trophies in Ottawa. The guns were captured by the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry on September 27, 1918. The machine guns still stand by the monument today. The Cenotaph was first located where the new Town Hall now stands, at the corner of Queen Elizabeth Boulevard and Third Avenue. When the new town hall was constructed the Cenotaph was moved to the triangular spot where the old town hall once stood. In 1956, new marble plaques where placed on the Cenotaph honouring those fallen in the Second World War and the Korean War. Annual parades are held at the Cenotaph on Decoration Day, June 6th, and on Remembrance Day, November 11th.