Nova Scotia

This wooden structure was erected by Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 34 in memory of fallen comrades. It was unveiled on 5 October 1980.

As they had done with the First World War memorial, the Gyro Club of New Glasgow took the initiative in providing a commemorative monument to honor the fallen of the Second World War. They collected funds and made arrangements, in co-operation with the Royal Canadian Legion, for the design and installation of a memorial.

The large grey stone tablet is the work of Wolfville architect R.M. Peck. His creation blends with the piper on the cenotaph and its supporting shaft into a dignified and meaningful whole. On the tablet are the names of the 72 women and men of New Glasgow who gave their lives for freedom.

The unveiling ceremony was at the Remembrance Day observance on November 11, 1954. On parade with the Legion and other war Veterans were the IODE, Brownies, Guides, Wolf Cubs, Boy Scouts, a detachment of Pictou Highlanders and some hundreds of citizens. The act of unveiling was performed by a representative of the Silver Cross Mothers, Mrs. Margaret MacDonald.

In the late 1920s, the New Glasgow Gyro Club, some of whose members were war Veterans, gained public support to provide the town with a war memorial. John E. Clarke, member of the Gyro Club, wrote every city and town in Canada with a memorial to find out why they chose a memorial over a library or building and vice versa. No detail was too much trouble for him. With co-operation of the Royal Canadian Legion and the town council, the club organized a financial drive. They raised $12,000 going door to door soliciting funds.

A citizens' committee assisted in selecting and erecting the memorial and chose the figure submitted by J. Massey Rhind, a Scottish-American sculptor. He began his studies under his father then attended the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy as a 15-year old prodigy and continued his studies with Jules Dalou in Lambeth, England. He continued his studies in England, then two more years in Paris and moved to New York in 1889 when he was 29. After the First World War, Rhind lived in Chester, Nova Scotia. His work in Nova Scotia includes the Halifax Grand Parade Cenotaph, Chester Cenotaph and Cornwallis Statue.

J. Massey Rhind designed the Highland bagpiper. Rhind fashioned the piper in the garb of all pipers in the British Empire military during the First World War. He supervised the casting in a Scottish foundry and the careful packing involved in freighting it across the ocean. It was erected on a granite base shaft listing the names of those who died in the First World War.

All branches of military service had in common a burial ceremony for the dead. When permitted, the dead were interred to the notes of the buglers' or trumpeters' Last Post, and the belief of Resurrection symbolized by sounding the Reveille. Then followed the keening of the pipes, the Lament, a mournful cadence in farewell to a comrade in arms. In Carmichael Park, the piper in bronze perpetually pipes a Lament for the Fallen.

The New Glasgow War Memorial was unveiled on September 25, 1929, in memory of those who lost their lives during the First World War. The actual unveiling was performed by Mrs. Frances Maclntosh Sprossen, a sister of four Maclntosh brothers who had served overseas, three of whom paid the supreme sacrifice.

This beautiful monument has been seen and admired by many thousands of people over the years, and it is the most photographed subject in the area during tourist season. Immigrants from Scotland settled this part of Nova Scotia in 1773, whose largest town is named after the great city of Glasgow. This is where each year, during the Festival of Tartans Celebrations, the sounds of the pipes can be heard among the hills. Therefore, it is fitting that such a monument should be here, reminding us not only of our great heritage, but also, of the many brave who sacrificed their lives for the good of mankind during the First World War.

The name of the bronze piper's Scottish sculptor lives on in Pictou County, born Massey Cotter of Westville, himself a Veteran of the Korean War. Gyro Club member J. Geddie Cotter named his son after sculptor Massey Rhind.

This plaque is dedicated to the memory of The West Nova Scotia Regiment during the Second World War.

This plaque is dedicated to the memory of The North Nova Scotia Highlanders during the Second World War.

In addition to the monument at its head office in Toronto, the Canadian Bank of Commerce honoured employees from each branch who served in the First World War. This plaque was commissioned shortly after the war and dedicated to the bank's 1701 employees who served in the war, 321 laid down their lives. The names of six employees of the New Glasgow Canadian Bank of Commerce who served in the war are listed on the plaque.

The plaque features the caduceus logo of the bank - two snakes winding around a winged staff at the upper left, and two poppies intertwined with a symbolic olive branch at the lower right. The Canadian Bank of Commerce went to great lengths to commemorate its staff that served in the war including a two-volume book of staff profiles and accounts of their war experiences.

This plaque is dedicated to the memory of the Korean War.

This plaque is dedicated to the local Veterans and war dead of the Second World War.

This plaque is dedicated to the local veterans and war dead of the First World War.

This certificate is a list of the names of the members of the congregation who served during the Second World War.