Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star November 1950. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star November 1950. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star November 1950. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Gravemarker – Headstone of William Wright in Neepawa Riverside Cemetery (Veteran's Plot). Gunner Wright died in the Canoe River train crash.

Neepawa Riverside Cemetery – Overview of Veteran's Plot in Neepawa Riverside Cemetery. Has to be one the prettiest cemeteries around. In the summer, flowers are plotted in this plot and the whole cemetery is in bloom.

Memorial at Canoe River – Memorial at Canoe River train crash site. In November of 1950 thousands of soldiers were sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, for training before their journey to Korea. They went by rail. At 10:35 in the morning of November 21st, a troop train carrying 340 soldiers - soldiers of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery - was just east of the village of Canoe River, British Columbia. An express train on the same track was speeding in the opposite direction. And the two crashed, head-on. The troop train was tossed into the air, its engine thrown back onto the coach cars behind it. Steel cars were shattered by other steel cars in a raging inferno. Seventeen Canadian soldiers died that morning, and the bodies of four of them were never found. Many of those who escaped death suffered horrible injury including massive burns. The sacrifice made by the men at Canoe River was no less than that of all war veterans who died in the service of our country. These Canoe River men also died so that others might live in peace. We remain eternally in their debt.

Monument – Reverse of Korean War Veterans War Memorial. It is a memorial to the victims of the Canoe River crash. The monument is located in the Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Inscription

Memorial Plaque – Memorial plaques for Gunner WILLIAM DAVID WRIGHT, Private LLOYD KEITH WYLIE, and Private CARL JOSEPH ZIEGLER on the Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance in Meadowvale Cemetery, Brampton Ontario.

Memorial – One section of the Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance in Meadowvale Cemetery, Brampton Ontario. The memorial consists of a central section and 13 other sections containing memorial plaques for each of the 516 Canadian service men who died while serving with the Canadian Forces in the United Nations operations in Korea.

Memorial – Central section of Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance Part 1

Inscription – Central section of Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance Part 2

Memorial – Central section of Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance Part 3

Korean War Monument – Korean War Monument Ottawa, Ontario

Close up of Korean War Memorial – Close–up of the Korean War Monument in Ottawa, Ontario. This features a Canadian soldier, facing toward Busan, Korea, where an identical monument watches over the graves of 378 Canadians in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery. Accompanying the volunteer are two Korean children, both holding symbols: the girl, a bouquet of maple leaves symbolizing Canada; and the boy, a bouquet of maple leaves and roses of Sharon, the national flower of Korea.

Dedicatory Inscription on the Korean War Memorial – Dedicatory inscription, Korean War Monument, Ottawa, Ontario

Inscription – Gunner WILLIAM DAVID WRIGHT is one of 23 soldiers commemorated on this panel and is one of the 516 soldiers whose names appear on the Korean War Monument in Ottawa. It was erected IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE CANADIAN WHO DIED IN SERVICE DURING THE KOREAN WAR 1950-1953 AND ON KOREAN PEACE KEEPING DUTIES, 1953-1957. Gunner WRIGHT was one of 17 soldiers who died on November 21, 1950 when a westbound train carrying troops of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery collided with an eastbound train (Vancouver to Montréal) just east of Canoe River, B.C. He is buried in RIVERSIDE CEMETERY, NEEPAWA, Manitoba.

Essay – Account of the Canoe River Train Accident (Source: Veterans Affairs Canada)