The Point Tupper War Memorial was constructed in 1977 in memory of those who served in the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and Korea.
Mrs. Loretta Cass (nee Matheson) was the granddaughter of First World War Veteran Dan Hayes. In 1976, she first realized there was no memorial in existence to commemorate her late grandfather and other Point Tupper War Veterans. After getting in touch with a number of Veterans in the area, a Point Tupper War Memorial Committee was formed. Founder - Loretta Matheson Cass Trustee of Honour - Frank Langley, World War I Veteran Trustees - Harold Oliver, Kenny MacDonald, Thomas Williams, World War II Veterans Fundraising began and land was sought.
A donation of land was received from Mrs. Yvonne Williams Doyle, niece of trustee, Thomas Williams. The land in question had been the site of a store owned for many years by the late Angus Williams, father of Yvonne. This land was situated at the corner of Paint and Tupper Streets, facing the main road. Sufficient funds were raised and the monument was ordered from Heritage Memorial Ltd., of Windsor, N.S. An invitation went out to supporters and the public.
At the time of the unveiling of the monument, only three mothers of Veterans still lived in the area; Mrs. Minnie MacNamara, the eldest of the three had three sons in the Second World War, Mrs. Joyce Oliver and Mrs. Beatrice MacLean each had a son who served in the Second World War. Mrs. MacNamara laid the wreath on behalf of Motherhood of Canada and was escorted by Second World War Veteran, Harold Oliver. Members of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43 in Port Hawkesbury led the parade and provided the Colour Party accompanied by piper, Sandy Boyd. Ted Martens, Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Legion Provincial Command was MC for the ceremony. Following the ceremony, a buffet tea was held in the Point Tupper School under the capable direction of coordinators Mrs. June Oliver and Mrs. Laura Swain.
In later years the realignment and reconstruction of Paint Street made it necessary to remove the War Memorial from the land donated by Yvonne Williams Doyle. With the kind permission of Stora Forest Industries, the Monument was relocated to the Pulp Mill Road and placed on land owned by Stora. Members of the Point Tupper Heritage Association see that the Canadian Flag is flown at the Memorial site each November 11th. They had plans to plant a tulip bed in the autumn of the year 2000.
Notes: In conversations with Harold Oliver, Second World War Veteran, a few mistakes on the memorial were mentioned. Michael (Bud) MacIntyre and Harold MacDonald were listed under the First World War, but in fact they were veterans of the Second World War. The reason for this error is that the War Memorial Committee was not able to contact them to find out if they wished to be on the memorial and by the time they were reached, the monument had been erected and there was no room for their names in the list of Second World War veterans, therefore, their names were added to the list of First World War veterans.
It was also discovered that the names of Russell MacMullen, Dr. Thomas Morrison, Sarsfield Morrison, Metzler Morrison, George Warner and Norman Warner were not on the Memorial. Perhaps their names are on war memorials where they lived later on in life as it is customary to have one's name on only one memorial.
