Ontario

This brass plaque is dedicated to the members of St. James Manotick Church who served in the First World War.

This framed scroll is dedicated to the members of St. James Manotick Church who served in the Second World War. This style of an Honour Roll was designed by A.J. Casson when he worked at Sampson-Matthews, a prominent midtown Toronto lithography and commercial art company.

The building was erected by the residents of Richmond in 1950 and is dedicated to the soldiers from the Richmond region who served and, in particular, those who gave their lives in the Second World War.

Foot Guards Park is named in honour of the Governor General's Foot Guards. It was dedicated on May 16, 2014 by the City of Ottawa. The Governor General’s Foot Guards was formed on June 7, 1872 in Ottawa. The Regiment has been headquartered at the Cartier Square Drill Hall since 1879.

Members of the Regiment took part in the Nile Expedition of 1884 and the following year provided a company of sharpshooters to the Battleford column during the Northwest Resistance, where the Regiment suffered its first two casualties at the battle of Cut Knife Hill. During the South African War the Regiment contributed volunteers for the various Canadian contingents, mainly the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry.

The Governor General’s Foot Guards perpetuates two battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who took part in the First World War. The 2nd (Eastern Ontario) battalion “The Iron Second”, which was a part of the 1st Canadian Division and saw continuous service on the Western front from 1915 to end of war in 1918. The 2nd Battalion also fought at the battles of Ypres, St. Julien, Festubert, Pozières, Vimy (1917), Arleux, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, and Canal du Nord, to name only a few. By the end of the war, 242 officers and 5,084 other ranks had fought with the battalion. Of those, 52 officers and 1,227 other ranks were killed. The 77th (Ottawa) battalion provided reinforcements for the Canadian Corps until 22 September 1916, when its personnel were absorbed by the 47th Battalion (British Columbia), Canadian Expeditionary Force and the 73rd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) and the battalion was disbanded. The honours and traditions of these battalions are perpetuated by the Governor General’s Foot Guards.

During the Second World War the Governor General’s Foot Guards was mobilized in May 1940. In 1942 the regiment was re-rolled to become an armoured unit to address the need for more armoured units in the Canadian Army, assuming the name “21st Canadian Armoured Regiment (Governor General’s Foot Guards)”. It embarked for Great Britain on 23 September 1942. On 24 July 1944, it landed in France as part of the 4th Armoured Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division and it continued to fight in northwest Europe until the end of the war taking part in the battle of Normandy, the battle of the Scheldt, and the Rhineland. Over the course of the war the Regiment’s casualties were 101 dead and 284 wounded. Forceful III, a Sherman tank that served with the regiment is currently on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and is dedicated to the memory of the members of the Governor General’s Foot Guards killed during the Second World War.

In the intervening years, members have participated in numerous United Nations and NATO operations, including service in the Cyprus, Somalia, the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. During the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, the Governor General’s Foot Guards deployed numerous members, taking part Task Force 3-06, Task Force 3-08, and Task Force 1-10 in Kandahar, as well as the Op ATTENTION training mission in Kabul.

Presently the Governor General’s Foot Guards provides individual augmentation to regular force when they deploy on operations. Most recently the regiment has deployed members on Op IMPACT in Iraq and Jordan, Op CALUMET in Egypt, Op SOPRANO in Sudan, Op REASSURANCE in Poland and Latvia, and Op UNIFIER in the Ukraine.

The Regiment maintains a robust domestic response capability to support Canadians at home in the event of natural disaster or emergency. The regiment has deployed soldiers to the 1998 Ice Storm, floods 2017 and 2019, and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

For service on active duty, members of the Regiment have been awarded over 500 decorations, including 3 Victoria Crosses. The regiment has 34 Battle Honours.

André Audet Avenue, is named in honour of Able Seaman Jean Frederick André Audet, who enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy on May 4, 1942 as an Ordinary Seaman. The street was named in November 2010 by the city of Ottawa.

Audet served on many ships, including HMCS ATHABASCA, spending 26 months at sea during the Second World War as an Able Seaman. Wounded as the Athabaskan sunk in the English Channel on April 29, 1944, Mr. Audet was very lucky to have survived as 128 of his fellow crew members lost their lives.

Audet received the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, as well as the War Medal (1939-45) for his service.

The Major W. Ross Chamberlain Park is named in honour of Major William Ross Chamberlain, MC, who joined the Canadian Army in November 1941, and served in North-west Europe, Africa, Italy, and Indo-China during the Second World War. He gallantly served with the 4 Canadian Reconnaissance Regiment (4 Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for the exemplary courage he displayed as a young lieutenant leading a successful attack against German positions on May 21, 1944.

Following the end of hostilities, he remained in the Army until 1962 after which he became a teacher. As a teacher and guidance counsellor for many years, he helped innumerable students at Fisher Park and Merivale high schools. A member of the Manotick Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion for 36 years, he founded and chaired the Youth Education Committee, developing a student bursary program for deserving high school students.

Mr. Chamberlain was also particularly devoted to providing services to seniors, founding the Rideau Seniors Association, the Manotick Senior Citizens Service Centre and assisted in the creation of Highlands Apartments (a low-cost senior’s residence) as well as a not-for-profit senior’s café in Manotick.

This stone cairn on the grounds of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #627 (Greely and District) was unveiled in 2005 and is dedicated to the men and women who trained and served at NRS/HMCS/CFS Gloucester. It was erected by the Supplementary Radio Systems Old Timers Association.

Naval Radio Station Gloucester, call sign CGI, was established as a HFDF facility on February 23, 1943. During the war years, the station was known as “Number 1 Station HMCS Bytown” and for brevity it was sometimes referred to as “No. 1”. From December 1, 1950 to April1, 1953 the name was changed to HMCNRS. Between 1953 and 1966 the base was known as HMCS Gloucester, and then CFS Gloucester until it closed. HMCS Gloucester became a training facility and also the home of the Special Communications Branch, responsible for all Special Communication Stations and signals intelligence.

Over its lifetime, the base saw many changes to its infrastructure including the construction of about 20 PMQs in the 1950’s. The present Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) is housed in the station’s former gymnasium.

This grey granite monument commemorates the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. On the monument are two metal plaques, on which is inscribed “In Flanders Fields” and “Au Champ d’Honneur”, the French adaptation of “In Flanders Fields”, affixed to two granite stelæ. The monument also includes a replica headstone typically used in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries.

The Barrhaven Cenotaph is located in front of the John McCrae Secondary School.

The John McCrae Secondary School was named in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, best known for composing the poem “In Flanders Fields”. The school was officially opened on October 7, 1999.

Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae (1872-1918) was born in Guelph where he became a member of the Guelph militia regiment. McCrae studied at the University of Toronto and joined The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. In 1893, he trained as an artilleryman at the Royal Military College in Kingston. He returned to university, completed his B.A. and went on to study medicine.

McCrae served in the artillery during the Second Boer War and upon his return taught at the University of Vermont and McGill University. Joining at the very start of the First World War, McCrae worked as a field surgeon and was in charge of a field hospital during the Second Battle of Ypres when McCrae’s friend Lt Alexis Helmer was killed in battle. His burial inspired the poem “In Flanders Fields” which was written on 3 May, 1915 and published later that year.

In June 1915, McCrae was made responsible for No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Dannes-Cammiers near Boulogne-sur-Mer. On 28 January 1918, while still in command, McCrae died of pneumonia. He was buried in the Wimereux Cemetery with full military honours and in the presence of General Sir Arthur Currie.

Colonel Frederick Bearman Hall is named in honour of Colonel Frederick Bearman, who was the first Reeve to be appointed by the Nepean Township in 1850.

Born in 1804, little detailed information is available regarding Frederick Bearman’s childhood or early adulthood. He is known to have settled in Nepean in 1819, most likely in the Bell’s Corner area of the township. Records indicated that in 1828, at the age of 24 years old, he was a member of the 1^st Carleton Regiment and in the ensuring years, rose through the ranks.

By 1850 he had risen to the senior officer ranks and was elected Nepean Township councilor for the first township council elected under the new Municipal Act of 1849. He was subsequently appointed the first Reeve of the township. (source: “The City Beyond: A History of Nepean, birthplace of Canada’s Capital 1792 – 1990”, Bruce S. Elliot; Published by the Corporation of the City of Nepean, 1991)