Other

Erected in the 1950s by the village of Castlegar, this memorial is dedicated to the local war dead. Originally located at 5th Street and 11th Avenue, it was moved to its current location in the mid-1970s and was refurbished in 1997.

This memorial was sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch No. 11. It was presented to the City of Trail in a ceremony held on 11 November 1951, prior to the annual Remembrance Day service. The Royal Canadian Legion committee that administrated the project consisted of: Albert King (Chair) F.E. (Buddy) DeVito (Vice Chair) J.W. Evan (Vice Chair) Mrs. P. Wolfe (Secretary) O.J. Wilson (Member) Charles Conry (Member) The Legion solicited public donations and received the following support: Cash, including corporate and organization donations totalled $932.50. Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. Ltd. Donated the cement for the base, technical expertise and the bronze work. The City of Trail covered half of the cost of the stone work. D.B. Merry, a building supplier, and Trail Mercantile, a retail store, covered the cost of construction materials. Sharp & Thompson & Berwick & Pratt Architects donated the plans. The memorial consists of a stone and masonry shaft on a cement base surrounded by lawn and curbing. Lights illuminate the tower at night. A flagpole is located in the front lawn area. Bronze plaques with the names of the war dead from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War are attached to the tower. The memorial is used for the City’s annual Remembrance Day service and for special Legion functions or ceremonies.

George Henry Corbett’s parents came to Canada in 1914 and settled in Saskatchewan, where he was born on November 4, 1919. Around his tenth birthday, the family moved to Oak Bay, British Columbia, and it was in this small coastal community that he graduated from high school in 1935.

An avid builder of model aircraft and possessing a keen interest in flying, Corbett took advantage of a family holiday to England to apply to the de Havilland Aircraft Company’s Aeronautical Technical School at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Even with a busy schedule studying aircraft design and manufacture, he found the time to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) Volunteer Reserve in November 1937. Two years later, with his studies nearly complete, Corbett was visiting family in British Columbia when Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. He immediately returned to England and the RAF.

After completing his training at No. 9 Advanced Flying Training School, he was posted to No. 7 Operational Training Unit at Hawarden, Cheshire, on July 7, 1940. This unit focused on one thing and one thing only: the training of Spitfire fighter pilots. A combination of personal talent and operational need meant that Corbett’s stay was short; on July 26, the young Canadian found himself reporting to No. 66 Squadron at Coltishall, Norfolk.

The squadron had already engaged the Luftwaffe in the skies above Dunkirk and was ready to “have a go at Jerry” over home turf. Although Corbett participated in a number of combat patrols, his first true combat experience came on September 9, 1940, and it was not a pleasant experience. Dodging often heavy rain showers, Pilot Officer Corbett was part of a group attacking German bombers, escorted by enemy fighters, intent on attacking London. After already damaging a Messerschmitt 109, he was positioning his aircraft for a rear attack on a bomber when he was bounced by three German fighters. With the cockpit filling with smoke and the controls jammed, he found himself in a severely damaged, uncontrolled aircraft plummeting toward the ground in a tight spiral dive. At 12,000 feet (3,658 metres), the Canadian pilot bailed out, suffering a slight injury in the process.

Corbett quickly returned to the fray, and on September 27 he and his squadron mates intercepted German bombers attacking London. In the midst of heavy British defensive fire from anti-aircraft guns below, he got a quick burst into one bomber before breaking off the attack and leaving the damaged enemy aircraft to other RAF fighters. He then selected a lone Junkers 88 as his next target, closed to within yards of the German aircraft, and opened fired. The enemy aircraft fell away, its port engine burning fiercely, but the smoke was so thick that Corbett had to break off the attack.

He had little time to enjoy his victory because his Spitfire was damaged by friendly fire when an artillery shell burst nearby, destroying one elevator and riddling the fuselage and starboard wing with shrapnel. He skillfully executed a forced landing in the London district of Orpington, emerging from his damaged but repairable Spitfire with a new-found respect for anti-aircraft gunners and a Junkers 88 claimed as destroyed. Two London bobbies who came to his assistance had witnessed the combat, and confirmed Corbett’s claim.

More combat followed, but this young man who had survived being shot down twice would not be so lucky the third time. On October 8, 1940, Pilot Officer Corbett, wearing a new watch sent by his parents as a 21st birthday gift, was climbing with his squadron to intercept yet another formation of German raiders when they were surprised by a large number of Messerschmitt 109s. In a slashing attack, Corbett and one other 66 Squadron pilot were shot down near Bayford Marches, Upchurch; neither pilot survived. Pilot Officer George Corbett was 20 years old.

According to Mike Gunnill, a freelance writer in the United Kingdom, on that day the Reverend William Joseph Wright was at his church, St. Margaret of Antioch, and witnessed the dogfight. When the Pilot Officer Corbett’s aircraft crashed, the clergyman ran to the site, hoping to provide assistance. But “…it was clear, due to the bullet damage around the cockpit, that George Corbett had been killed instantly before the crash. [Wright] offered prayers and a blessing, and stayed until the body was recovered. The pilot’s own parachute was used as a shroud.”

Back in Oak Bay, in a cruel twist of fate that often happens in wartime, Pilot Officer Corbett’s mother, Mabel, received a letter from her son days after being officially informed that he had been killed. Gunnill notes that the young Canadian tried to comfort his family’s fears in a letter that made light of his two earlier brushes with death, and explained the importance of what he was part of.

Corbett wrote, “Having got out OK, my confidence has tremendously increased and I want you to be confident also. We’re seeing plenty of action here every day and I’ll be back in the fight tomorrow. The Jerries are a long way from getting supremacy in the air, and until they get it, there’ll be no invasion.”

Pilot Officer Corbett’s sacrifice touched people on two continents.

In Canada, his family commissioned a stained glass window in St. Mary the Virgin Anglican church in Oak Bay. The window depicts Pilot Officer Corbett in his Royal Air Force uniform. He wears a life preserver and clutches a flying helmet and earphones, and gazes upward at an image depicting the Ascension, when, the Bible teaches, Jesus rose to Heaven following his crucifixion. Two human feet and the hem of a white robe appear in the window's upper portion. These suggest that Christ awaits him, on sacred ground. The colours of white, green, blue and yellow throughout symbolize purity, freedom, hope and love, respectively. This tribute is the work of Celtic Studios. On the Sunday closest to Battle of Britain Day (September 15), a single rose is placed beneath Pilot Officer Corbett’s window.

An ocean away, in St. Mary the Virgin churchyard at Upchurch, Kent, where Pilot Officer Corbett is buried, a community tends to the young Canadian’s gravesite, remembering a life freely given so many years ago.

In an email, Mike Gunnill related a quick anecdote that underlines the shared bond that individuals such as Corbett created. “As a resident [of Upchurch], I walked through the churchyard yesterday,” he wrote. “I went past [Pilot Officer] Corbett’s grave and there was another resident standing there talking to him. He explained that he came often, just for a chat. ‘Please don’t think I am mad,’ he said, ‘I just enjoy my visits.’”

This memorial was presented to the City of Toronto by the Royal Canadian Air Force Association of the Toronto Region on August 1964. The Avro Lancaster Bomber was flown by Canadians in Bomber Command during the Second World War.

The Avro Lancaster was prominently displayed along Toronto's waterfront from 1966 to 1999, when it was moved to a museum at Downsview Park. When the museum closed in 2011, the plane was dismantled and put in storage at the Edenvale Aerodrome in Stayner.

In 2017, Toronto's economic development and culture division issued a call for proposals to "manage and preserve" the bomber. The British Columbia Aviation Museum was awarded custody of the disassembled aircraft in the late summer of 2018. The aircraft, still in pieces, was moved to the Museum's complex near Victoria and the multi-year restoration project is under way.

This Avro Lancaster FM104 was built in Toronto in 1944, but did not see combat service after arriving in the United Kingdom in January 1945. In June 1945, the aircraft returned to Canada and was converted for use in coastal surveillance and search and rescue. It served in that capacity until retired in 1964. The aircraft then spent more than three decades on display at the Toronto lake shore. Restoration work on the aircraft was commenced by the Canadian Air & Space Museum in 1999, but that organization was unable to continue the work after they lost their hangar space to redevelopment.

This memorial was erected in 2008 by the family and friends of Lieutenant General R. J. (Reg) Lane in honour of all those who have served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The Homecoming commemorates the Royal Canadian Navy's presence in Victoria and was unveiled on the navy's centenary - May 4, 2010. It marks the nation's gratitude to the tens of thousands of sailors who have served with the force on more than 850 Canadian vessels.

The bronze statues, sculpted by local artist Nathan Scott, depict a Canadian sailor reuniting with his daughter and dog upon return from deployment. Homecoming is a special moment for sailors and their families. The statues sit on a granite and marble base which depicts crests of each ship in the Canadian Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

Honorary Navy Captain Cedric Steele was the driving force behind the project. The site for the monument was donated by Greater Victoria Harbour Authority chairman Bill Wellburn. The patron of the monument was Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Steven Point who was supported by retired Vice-Admiral Nigel Brodeur and then-Commander of Maritime Forces Pacific Rear Admiral Tyrone Pile. It was funded through the sale of pewter small-scale copies of the statues and commemorative bricks. The bricks are engraved in memory of service men and surround the monument.

Near the memorial is another statue, the Veteran Sailor, which overlooks the scene.

Veterans Affairs Canada and the BC Ministry of Health partnered to provide health services to Veterans in long term care in 1974. The Veterans Memorial Pavilion was transferred to the Provincial Government. In June of 1992 the Tillicum and Veterans Care Society was named to reflect federal funding for the new care home, to be called the Lodge at Broadmead. The Lodge opened in April of 1995 and replaced beds closed at Veterans Memorial Pavilion.

In 2015, Her Honour, the Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, together with Rear-Admiral Gilles Couturier, unveiled a plaque honouring Canada's Veterans. The Lodge was officially renamed Veterans Memorial Lodge at Broadmead, known informally as Veterans Memorial Lodge.

The Totem Pole and Veterans' Chapel (which includes five military stained glass windows and a Book of Remembrance) are also located at Veterans Memorial Lodge.

The Lost Airmen of the Empire memorial honours Allied Airmen who gave their lives at the Patricia Bay Air Station during the Second World War. The memorial site, Hospital Hill, was home to the medical facilities for the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Patricia Bay during the Second World War. Air Station Patricia Bay was the second largest training airbase in Western Canada. Personnel at the Air Station were trained for positions as pilots, navigators, armourers and mechanics. During this time, 177 service men and women lost their lives in training around the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Aircraft failure and pilot error resulted in air crew crashing into places such as Salt Spring Island, Mill Bay, Whitby Island, Tofino, the mountains of Vancouver Island, Patricia Bay, Satellite Channel and Active Pass, to name a few. At times, the air crew would be interred together at the location of their respective crash sites; others simply vanished and were never found. 

The memorial was selected by the Victoria Airport Authority and a working group to increase the awareness of the proud military history of the airport. The names of the lost airmen were water jet cut into twenty-five Corten steel Cooper’s Hawk feathers. The Cooper’s Hawk is a predator known for its extraordinary agility in flight and ferocity in hunting. Symbolically the feathers create an allegorical narrative about the spirit of these fighting men who were training to be Canada’s airborne warriors. The eight feet high feathers were arranged chronologically in a military matrix with some removed, representing the randomness and divergent accident locations.

Victoria Sculptor Illarion Gallant completed the memorial in the Fall of 2016. It was dedicated on June 1, 2017, with over 300 people in attendance. The ceremony included a ceremonial military band complete with bagpipes and drums, and a fly past of both modern and vintage military aircraft including a PBY Canso, that actually served at Pat Bay during the war.

The approach to the memorial from the path is flanked by the original gate-posts of the hospital and a row of red maple trees on both sides. At the end of the lane is a seating area, made from salvaged bricks of the airfield’s original administration building. The central seating area holds a time capsule where community members can place sealed letters they have written to Veterans. The memorial cost was $160K.

The memorial commemorates and acknowledges the contributions and sacrifices of the 180 people who perished while at the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Patricia Bay during the Second World War. There are three civilians listed, including one who was an American citizen and resident. The public can drive to the memorial or access it from the Flight Path, a 9.3 km paved pedestrian/bike path which runs around the perimeter of the airport.

For biographies, crash details and burial sites on each of the 180 names, visit the British Columbia Aviation Museum.

The war memorial stained glass window at Saint Luke Anglican Church honours parishioners who served and died in military service. E.g. Flying Officer Roy James Cook.

Located in the provincial capital Victoria, the BC Afghanistan Memorial recognizes the 40,000 Canadians that served in Canada’s longest military campaign and honour those 163 that paid the supreme sacrifice for our country. The Greater Victoria Afghanistan Memorial Project Society designed, purchased and donated the memorial to Her Majesty the Queen, in the Right of British Columbia. The granite monument was quarried and manufactured in Stanstead, Quebec. On 30 September 2017 the BC Afghanistan Memorial was unveiled and dedicated by the Lt. Gov of BC in a ceremony witnessed by over a thousand of our citizens.