Ontario

Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on 10 November 1908. In 1929, he graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, and eventually enrolled in the Militia. When the Second World War began, Merritt was serving as an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. In 1942, he became the commanding officer of the South Saskatchewan Regiment.

On 19 August 1942, the South Saskatchewan Regiment was one of the infantry battalions from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division that participated in the raid on the French port of Dieppe. The battalion landed on Green Beach immediately in front of Pourville, a village just to the west of Dieppe. In order to reach its objectives east of the village, the Canadians were obliged to cross a bridge over the River Scie, which flowed through Pourville to the sea. The bridge and its approaches were swept by German artillery, machine gun and mortar fire coming from the heights dominating the eastern bank of the Scie, which brought the progress of the South Saskatchewan Regiment to a halt.

At this point, Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt came forward and took charge, walking calmly across the bridge at least four times under a storm of fire to conduct parties of his men to the eastern side. He then organized and led uphill assaults on several of the concrete “pillboxes” and other enemy positions that looked down on the bridge and the village, and succeeded in clearing them. Throughout the morning, Merritt energetically led his men, exposing himself recklessly to German fire. Although twice wounded, he organized the withdrawal of his battalion from the Pourville beaches, and mounted a rear guard that ensured that the greater part of the South Saskatchewan Regiment and Queen’s Own The Cameron Highlanders of Canada were re-embarked for England. Merritt and the men of the rear guard could not be brought off, and were compelled to surrender.

For his exemplary leadership and valour, Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt was awarded the Victoria Cross. Merritt died in Vancouver, British Columbia on 12 July 2000. Merritt Avenue was named in his honour in 1952.

A Peace Stone sculpture was erected on Mississauga’s shoreline. Standing five feet high and made of dark metal, the sculpture is by local carver Richard Carbinaro. Registry of World Citizens in Canada, with its head office in Paris, France, which was created in 1949 “to number those who on the planet declare themselves world citizens and wish to reach this new level of planetary democracy, donated the sculpture. A circle cut out in the middle of the peace stone features the Registry of World Citizens' logo — an iron person, arms outstretched to symbolize people working together across boundaries for peace and an end to prejudice and violence. 

All costs associated with the creation and installation of the piece, plus the unveiling ceremony Sept. 21, 2009 were covered by $10,000 left behind by a member for just this purpose. The unveiling day was designated by the United Nations as International Peace Day. Registry of World Citizens, hosts an annual International Peace Day event at the park.

The 3 panel beautification mural, which depicts the Great War legacy, was initially installed on the fence. It was commission by and later moved by Heritage Mississauga in 2015 inside the heritage building.  

This Roll of Honor is dedicated to the members of Mississauga Lodge A.F. & A.M. No. 524 G.R.C. that served in the First World War.

This memorial recalls a historic injustice Canadians should pause to remember, as we recall the First World War and the valour of all those Canadian men, and some women, who served. It is a tribute to mark the memory of the thousands of "enemy aliens" who had their civil rights stripped, and were subsequently imprisoned during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920, following the implementation of the War Measures Act. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the War Measures Act - adopted on August 22, 1914 during the First World War. It was used to imprison Ukrainian-Canadians, and other ethnic groups, including German, Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian, and Armenian communities, into one of Canada's 24 internment camps.

Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and former chair of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), had taken it upon himself to lead the way and organize the memorial. In the CTO ("One Hundred") project, 100 aluminum plaques were simultaneously unveiled at 100 different locations across the country at 11:00am local time on August 22, 2014. The first plaque was unveiled in Amherst, Nova Scotia, followed by a wave of plaque unveilings moved west, from province to province, culminating in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The plaques, which cost $1,000 to make, were funded by the generosity of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Interment Recognition Fund.

Each plaque features a photo of internment prisoners confined behind a wire fence at the Castle Mountain Internment Camp in Banff, Alberta. The Castle Camp, which was built in 1915 at the base of Castle Mountain, was a Canadian internment camp which held immigrant prisoners of Ukrainian, Austrian, Hungarian, and German descent.

This memorial was erected to honour "Charlie Martin", one of the Second World War's best-known Canadian soldiers. Charles Cromwell Martin, DCM, MM was a company sergeant-major of "A" Company, Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions following the company's landing at Juno Beach on D-Day and later earned the Military Medal for his display of courage duiring an attack in Germany in March 1945. His story was told in Battle Diary, published in 1995 and in the CBC documentary: A Day in the Life of Charlie Martin on the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

The memorial is located at St Hilary's Anglican Church, in Mississauga. It has been designed with symbolic meaning. A circular outer stone wall is divided into two sections with a Celtic cross rising from a small circular central garden. The walls represent the circle of life broken by a space which is the conflict of the Second World War. The smaller of the two walls suggests the period of youth while the higher wall proposes the period of adulthood and maturity. The curved sections of the stone wall represent the commitment of the lives of those who left their community and are like great enfolding arms which embrace the soil and the faith that supported them. This was true of Charles Martin.

Persons wishing to contribute are invited to contact Mr. Charles Brown 905-279-9534. Source: Friends of the Canadian War Museum, Volume 13, Number 1, January 2002. A group of prominent citizens established a Committee to erect a memorial, dedicated to Charles Martin, his fallen comrades and those who survived to return home from the Second World War to continue to build their community and country to what it is today. The memorial was to be officially dedicated June 6, 2002. Source: The Powder Horn, Volume 1 (www.qor.com/powderhorn12-2.html)

Mississauga’s oldest cenotaph, originally known as the Port Credit and Vicinity Soldiers’ Memorial, was unveiled on November 9, 1925. The Port Credit Cenotaph was built to honour the men who lost their lives during the First World War. In 1946, the names of men who fell during the Second World War were added. A further inscription of the men who fell during the Korean War was made in 1983 on the 30th anniversary of the Korean War.

The cenotaph was planned by the Soldiers’ Memorial Committee, headed by W. T. Gray and George W. Gordon. It was designed and constructed by Louis Temporale (recipient of the Order of Canada for master craftsmanship in stone masonry). The cenotaph design is known as the Cross of Sacrifice.

The unveiling ceremony began with a parade of Veterans forming a guard of honour, led by Maj. John Hughes. The unveiling was performed by the lieutenant governor of Ontario, Col. Henry Cockshutt who had served in the First World War as a Lieutenant-Colonel.

This memorial is dedicated to the Markham residents who died in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. It was constructed in 1990 and dedicated in a ceremony on October 21, 1990.

This memorial is dedicated to those who made the supreme sacrifice in the First and Second World Wars. Research has shown that it was constructed just prior to 1950. Plans for the construction of the memorial were mentioned in the February 27, 1947 edition of the Markham Econ's Sun, in an article titled "Township Veterans Receive Their Gifts".

In 2013, this Second World War Honour Roll was found in the attic at the Woodhull homestead when Beth Moyer was researching the Kilworth United Church's history. She framed it and brought it to the church for presentation at their remembrance day service. The one casualty of the Second World War was Howard Green, son of the minister at that time.

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.