John Bernard Croak V.C. Memorial Park

[plaque/plaque]

John Bernard Croak V.C.

A native of Lower Island Cove in the then Dominion of
Newfoundland, John Bernard Croak was taken with his parents,
James and Cecilia Croak to New Aberdeen at the age of 2 years.
He grew up, attended St. John’s School and entered the mines at the age of 14 years.

He enlisted in Sussex, NB at the age of 23 on the 7th of
August 1915. Three years and one day later he was to become
an exalted hero whose name would be known throughout the
British Empire.

On the 8th of August 1918 he singlehandedly attacked two
German machine gun garrisons thereby making a breach in the
enemy lines through which the 13th Battalion advanced, leading
the whole of the Allied Armies on a One Hundred Days march
until the war ended on the 11th of November 1918.

The German General Erich Von Ludendorff said of him that his
action created the darkest day in the history of the German
Army. The British Generals said: “The perseverance and
courage of this gallant man were undoubtedly responsible for
taking the strongest point in the whole day’s advance.”

His tombstone in Hangard, France asks us to pray for him

the only such epitaph ever permitted on a private soldier’s
tombstone.

For our freedom he has
won a sure possession.

This Memorial Park was dedicated by His Honour the Lieutenant
Governor of Nova Scotia, the Honourable Lloyd R. Crouse on the
100th anniversary of our Hero’s birth: 18th of May 1992.
The park was donated by the Town of Glace Bay. The
Monument erected from donations to the John Bernard Croak VC
Memorial Foundation.