The Morewood Cenotaph Committee honored their fallen on the 100th anniversary of the original unveiling of the cenotaph - July 6, 2021, by installing 21 mini-monuments - ten along each side - one for each of those who had given their lives, and one by itself at the back representing all who returned. A portrait of Burnis Shaver is etched into his memorial. He stood 5 foot 9 inches, had fair hair and blue eyes and an appendectomy scar.
Burnis was a traveler before the war. He was taken on strength with the 2nd Battery on 28 October 1915, transferred to the 6th Howitzer Brigade on the 29th, and to the brigade’s 22nd Battery on the 30th. Burnis embarked for France on 16 March 1916.
Letters home from his brother and his Lieutenant detailing the events of early May 1917 were published in the Chesterville Record on 1 January 1918:
“The battery had been shelled rather heavily for a time and the men had taken cover in a trench where they were fairly safe. As the shelling grew less, Bern who was always to the front in everything, and did not know fear, came out into the open with a chum. When they were at the edge of the trench a shell hit and wounded both of them. Bern was hit in the back of the head and was unconscious when picked up. He was taken at once to the dressing station and was tended there and sent down to No. 12 Field Ambulance, where he arrived in the early morning.”
The 20 pillars representing individual soldiers are in alphabetic order. The 21st pillar sits in the shadow of the cenotaph and between the two rows.
