The Sergeant Gander and his Handler Memorial was born of a school reunion held in Gander in 2010 and is a gift to the children of Gander from the early children of Gander (1951 to 1964). Sergeant Gander was the living mascot of the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment. He died in action during the Battle of Hong Kong, saving the lives of several Canadian soldiers.
The statue of Gander is accompanied by a statue of his Second World War handler of the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment and was unveiled on July 23, 2015. It was sculpted by Morgan MacDonald.
Philip Doddridge, a member of the Royal Rifles who fought alongside Sergeant Gander and spent three years in a Japanese POW camp was at the unveiling. "He was very much loved by all of us, he followed us to Hong Kong and was killed in action." The planning committee worked on the project for five years.
Sergeant Gander was a Newfoundland dog raised by the Hayden family on the airport base in Gander, Newfoundland. He was a friendly dog who loved playing with children. He enjoyed living on the base but spent too much time on the runways, trying to catch the planes as they came in to land.
Because he was growing to be so large, the Hayden family gave the playful dog to the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment stationed at the Gander airport. He quickly became a good friend and mascot. In 1941, the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment was sent to Hong Kong to defend the land from an enemy invasion. The men couldn’t bear to leave Gander behind, so they gave him the rank of “Sergeant” and he boarded the troopship with his fellow soldiers.
Fred Kelly was the soldier responsible for feeding Gander and giving him cool showers to keep him comfortable in the heat. Gander was a mascot, but he was also a fellow soldier with a job to perform. He would bark and nip at the legs of the enemy, scaring them away. One night in December 1941, Gander showed his true courage. He knew what a grenade was and how it could hurt people. That night, Gander saw a grenade tossed near a group of wounded Canadian soldiers. He ran to it and rushed away with it. The grenade exploded and Gander was killed. But he had saved the lives of the seven soldiers!
In 2000, Gander was awarded the Dickin Medal for his bravery during a gathering of Veterans in Ottawa. There stood Fred Kelly with a Newfoundland dog named Rimshot, who represented Gander, the brave mascot-soldier. Gander’s medal was the first awarded to a Canadian animal and is now displayed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
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 and Private Hugh McWhirter Statue, Corner Brook; Monument of Honour, Conception Bay South; Cox's Cove War Memorial.
