The Campbell River Cenotaph was spearheaded by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 137. A committee began fundraising in early 1952 and it became a community effort to erect a cenotaph with a brass plaque naming the fallen soldiers from the community. The land was donated by Carl Thulin, who also drove to Victoria to pick up and deliver the large stone monument. It was installed on the shores of Willow Bay, across from the Legion on the corner of 12th Street. The BC Power Commission donated rocks for a small seawall to protect the cenotaph and loaned their workmen for construction. A flagpole for the cenotaph was donated by the Village Commission.
The cenotaph was dedicated on Remembrance Day, 1952, but did not yet have a brass plaque naming those who were lost. Remembrance Day 1959 saw the last service at the cenotaph’s original location. It was relocated with the construction of the Tyee Plaza. The plaque was added in 1961, shortly after it had been reinstalled in the Tyee Plaza, with the names of 10 men from the First World War, and seven men from the Second World War.
During the construction of Spirit Square in 2009, the cenotaph was moved to its current location. Due to the efforts of the Campbell River Genealogical Society, the plaque was updated with two new names from the First World War and corrected spellings for four of the original names.
