This memorial was erected to honour "Charlie Martin", one of the Second World War's best-known Canadian soldiers. Charles Cromwell Martin, DCM, MM was a company sergeant-major of "A" Company, Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions following the company's landing at Juno Beach on D-Day and later earned the Military Medal for his display of courage duiring an attack in Germany in March 1945. His story was told in Battle Diary, published in 1995 and in the CBC documentary: A Day in the Life of Charlie Martin on the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
The memorial is located at St Hilary's Anglican Church, in Mississauga. It has been designed with symbolic meaning. A circular outer stone wall is divided into two sections with a Celtic cross rising from a small circular central garden. The walls represent the circle of life broken by a space which is the conflict of the Second World War. The smaller of the two walls suggests the period of youth while the higher wall proposes the period of adulthood and maturity. The curved sections of the stone wall represent the commitment of the lives of those who left their community and are like great enfolding arms which embrace the soil and the faith that supported them. This was true of Charles Martin.
Persons wishing to contribute are invited to contact Mr. Charles Brown 905-279-9534. Source: Friends of the Canadian War Museum, Volume 13, Number 1, January 2002. A group of prominent citizens established a Committee to erect a memorial, dedicated to Charles Martin, his fallen comrades and those who survived to return home from the Second World War to continue to build their community and country to what it is today. The memorial was to be officially dedicated June 6, 2002. Source: The Powder Horn, Volume 1 (www.qor.com/powderhorn12-2.html)
