A bronze of Private Hugh Walter McWhirter, sculpted by Morgan MacDonald, was unveiled on July 24, 2019. Richard Wayne McWhirter, grand-nephew of Hugh, was involved in the unveiling. Private McWhirter was the first soldier from the First Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment to be killed in combat.
The bronze statue was not completed in time for the Royal Visit unveiling of the Danger Tree in June 2016, so a clay maquette of Private Hugh McWhirter by sculptor Morgan MacDonald was used and removed after the Royal Visit. Sculptor Morgan MacDonald is a Corner Brook native and alumnus of Memorial University.
Dave Higdon, chair of Corner Brook's Forget Me Not Committee, has committed years of his life to preserving the memories of fallen soldiers through the installation of a series of commemorative statues. During a Remembrance Day ceremony in 2010, a mother of a fallen solider laid a small wreath in her son's memory. Dave was saddened to watch her lay it on the small block of granite that was built on the ground and served as a memorial plaque. He thought a small wreath on a small block was not good enough. Here's where the idea for the monuments began.
Three statues of remembrance have been placed in Corner Brook. A caribou representing the Newfoundland Regiment and two soldiers – one representing a First World War solider and a second representing an Afghanistan solider of today – are installed at Remembrance Square.
Morgan has completed many military pieces across the province: The Homecoming, One Hundred Portraits of the Great War and Caribou Memorial Veterans Pavilion, St John's; Danger Tree, Corner Brook; Monument of Honour, Conception Bay South; Cox's Cove War Memorial; and Sergeant Gander and his Handler Memorial; Gander.
