New Brunswick

The Sackville Cenotaph was erected by the Women's Civic Council of Sackville and dedicated on October 1, 1922. The cenotaph stands 20 feet high and is made of New Brunswick grey granite with a Celtic cross at the top. The inscription "Their name liveth for evermore" is from Ecclesiasticus or Sirach, chapter 44, verse 14, in in the King James Version of the Bible.

Originally designed to commemorate the 35 who fell in the First World War, the names of the fallen were inscribed on the four faces of the base of the memorial. After the Second World War, a bronze plaque was added on the south face with the names of the 35 who fell in that conflict. Finally, a plaque was added with the names of the two who gave their lives in the Korean War.

During the Second World War, the cenotaph was flanked by two field guns. Later these were replaced by a Ferret Scout Car, a military vehicle of the type used in peace-keeping operations. 

The Sackville cenotaph is located in the center of Memorial Park. Developed in 1910 as a Town park, with the addition of the cenotaph in 1922 it was designated as Memorial Park. In 1922, the cenotaph stood on a mound in the center of the park and was approached by a set of steps. Because of the danger of flooding the level of the whole park was raised bringing it level with the base of the monument thus eliminating the need for the steps. 

This tablet lists the names of all Mount Allison University and Academy students and alumni who lost their lives in the Second World War. The tablet was first located immediately inside the entrance of the Memorial Library and is now part of a series of bronze plaques.

The idea of building a library as a memorial to the Mount Allison students who had died during the First World War was first proposed in 1917. Fundraising for the Memorial Library began after the Armistice in 1918, but construction did not start until 1926. The memorial was paid in part with money collected by donations from friends and family of the students and alumni. It was designed by Architect Andrew R. Cobb and formally opened on June 8, 1927.

The building's memorial hall displayed tablets with the names of the fallen soldiers from the First World War - the Mount Allison University First World War Tablet and Mount Allison Academy First World War Tablet.

In 1960, the architectural firm of C.A. Fowler & Company was enlisted to build an annex which connected to the main body of the Memorial Library with a large atrium. The Memorial Library building received extensive renovations in 1970, reopened in March 1971 and was demolished in December of 2011.

This tablet lists the names of all Mount Allison Academy students and alumni who lost their lives in the First World War. The tablet was first located immediately inside the entrance of the Memorial Library and is now part of a series of bronze plaques.

Erected in 1966, this memorial is dedicated to the veterans of the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

This tablet was erected by the Ladies' College classes of 1928-29 in memory of Nursing Sister Rena Mclean. Rena, who was nicknamed Bird, was the daughter of a successful businessman and Conservative politician. A student at Mount Allison Ladies’ College in Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1891-92, she graduated from the Halifax Ladies’ College in 1896. She then studied nursing at the Newport Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island, completing her training in 1908. She was head nurse in the operating room at the Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital in Gardner, Massachusetts, when she enlisted for service in the First World War and was appointed to the Canadian Army Medical Corps on September 28, 1914.

McLean left almost immediately for Britain and in November proceeded to France with No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital. In Le Touquet (Le Touquet-Paris-Plage) she was one of 35 Canadian nurses who helped convert a luxurious hotel into the first hospital in France that was completely staffed by Canadians. In the spring of 1915, 1,100 Canadian soldiers, victims of chlorine gas at the second battle of Ypres, passed through the wards on their way back to Britain. Later that year McLean served briefly with No. 12 British Stationary Hospital at Rouen and then joined the Duchess of Connaught’s Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Taplow, England. After a return to Canada on transport duty, she proceeded to Salonica (Thessaloniki), Greece in October 1916, for service with No. 1 Canadian Stationary Hospital. There was controversy in Britain over nurses having been sent to the Mediterranean and all were returned the next year. McLean then joined No. 16 Canadian General Hospital in Orpington, London. Brief postings to the hospital ship Araguaya and again to No. 16 General Hospital intervened before she was assigned in March 1918 to the Llandovery Castle, which carried Canadian wounded to Halifax. She died on the voyage back to England when the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the enemy off the coast of Ireland on June 27, 1918. All 14 nursing sisters on board perished.

Rena McLean was an attractive fun-loving woman, kind and caring. As her last letter, written on board the Llandovery Castle on June 16, illustrates, she kept her morale high in spite of the years spent in some of the worst areas of the war. “Here we are once more approaching Halifax, but still as far from home as ever... This trip more than half our patients are amputation cases and would make you heartsick only they are so cheerful and happy themselves... This may be my last trip over and, if it is, that means that I don’t get home until dear knows when, for as soon as I get to England I am going to put in for France and once there it will be hard enough to get away.”

Plaques in memory of Rena McLean are located in St. James United Church in Souris, in Mount Allison’s Memorial Library and in the X-ray laboratory at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. A 200-bed hospital for veterans in Charlottetown was named after her in 1919, but was closed within a year or so. The Canadian Forces Medical Services School at Canadian Forces Base Borden Ontario gives the Llandovery Castle Award each year to the most deserving nursing officer. Rena Maude McLean’s medals are held by the Borden Military Museum, Borden, Ontario. They were placed there by Dr. Gustave Gingras following the death of his wife Rena M. McLean Gingras, a niece of Nursing Sister Rena McLean.

The Vocational Education Act of 1918, called for instruction in industrial, agricultural and commercial subjects and where warranted, the establishment of agricultural and vocational high schools. Named chair of the advisory committee, Fred Magee threw himself into the project. He visualized the new facility to be a centre for community activities. To ensure this, his wife, Myrtle McLeod Magee donated a fifteen acre lot for the new school, while Fred Magee provided $50,000 for a 700 seat auditorium-gymnasium.

Upwards of 1,000 people were in attendance on September 7, 1948, for the official opening of the Regional Memorial School by Lieutenant Governor Hon. D. L. MacLaren. It had been suggested that the new facility might be named in honour of Magee, but he rejected the ide and suggested that the school be dedicated in memory of the fallen in the two world wars.

Dr. George Ernest Bennett (1901–1972) was the first principal of the new school. He formed the Cadet Corps #2335, which held its first parade on December 17, 1948. The Cadet Corps accomplished much more than building leadership and encouraging physical fitness, as it led scores of Regional Memorial School graduates to careers in the Canadian Armed Forces. Under the critical eye of Captain Bennett, the Regional Memorial School Corps achieved first rank standing in the province.

Regional Memorial School was closed in June 1995. In 2004, the facility was acquired by Atlantic Windows who used the main building and industrial arts building as a storage facility. The industrial arts building was demolished in 2013 due to structure deterioration. The school was located at 49 E Main Street.

This tablet lists the names of all Mount Allison University students and alumni who lost their lives in the First World War. The tablet was first located immediately inside the entrance of the Memorial Library and is now part of a series of bronze plaques.

Plaques to Nursing Sister Rena McLean who was killed in the First World War, and other students killed in the South African War, Second World War, and Korean War were later added. In 1958, the plaques were moved from the main hall of the Memorial Library to the stairway due to renovations. The building was repurposed in 1970 and its name changed to the University Centre. The plaques were moved to their current location in 2008 and are situated on the ground floor atrium of the Wallace McCain Student Centre. They are mounted on the wall just outside the University's prestigious Tweedie Hall, which features a large mural by famed war artist and alumnus Alex Colville. 

At the University’s annual Remembrance Day service, students, faculty, and staff gather to pay homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Every year since 1927, the names of each of the fallen are read aloud. The tablet was in place for Remembrance Day celebrations in 1927.

Vimy Ridge Memorial was carved in 1928 by a Canadian National Railroad employee James O'Rourke as a memorial to the First World War Battle of Vimy Ridge and to the Canadians who fell in that battle. O'Rourke used only a hammer and a railroad spike to carve the artillery gun, maple leaves and inscription.

Nearby there is a storyboard with information on the battle. The site is still maintained by local residents.

Directions: from Sackville, New Brunswick, travel 106 West towards Dorchester. Park at the Ancient Indian Portage Monument and walk a few steps back towards Sackville onto the dirt road (Old Frosty Hollow Road) to the railway tracks. Be extremely careful when you cross the tracks, then turn right onto the four-wheeler trail which parallels the tracks. Continue west along the trail until it turns into the woods and you will be at the memorial. This walk is approximately twenty minutes.

Erected by the Ladies Auxiliary of Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 75, this memorial is dedicated to all local veterans and war dead. The memorial was erected by Heritage Memorial Ltd. Windsor, NS, Ruth Fahey a Ladies Aux. member was the one who had the idea to have a memorial erected at our Legion. Susan Petley (President at the time) advertised with flyers and the media for names of the deceased service men and women in the area. They soon had 250 names. The memorial they had ordered was to hold 100 names. They had to order two wings to accommodate the other names. They were granted funding from the Provincial Government, NB Command Community Services Fund, and donations. The cost of the memorial was $3975, The unveiling was on November 11, 1995 by Susan Petley and Alan Graham. Approximately 250 people were present. The Poppy Chairperson Sheila Handrahan delivers the Memorial Service each year on Remembrance Day to a packed Legion.