Station 2: Image gallery – Caribous

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After the war, the people and Government of Newfoundland built memorials in France and Belgium where the Regiment fought to symbolize the determination of its soldiers, many of which did not come home.
Five monuments were constructed in the form of the caribou, an animal native and familiar to all in Newfoundland and Labrador, and which was the emblem used in the cap badge of the Regiment.
Newfoundland was the only British dominion to place numerous memorials to its fallen soldiers.
Later, a sixth caribou was placed in Bowring Park in St. John’s Newfoundland.

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The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial was dedicated to the memory of those Newfoundlanders who served during the First World War and specifically commemorates those who died and who have no known grave. The memorial site was opened June 7, 1925, by Earl Haig.

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R.H.K. Cochius, originally from Holland, then living in Newfoundland, was the landscape architect for the site design.

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Basil Gotto, a sculptor from England, created the bronze caribou monument.

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Courtrai Newfoundland Memorial
The Courtrai Newfoundland Memorial in Belgium is the only caribou memorial in Belgium. In his rocky eminence, the stag commemorates the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's crossing of the Lys River under British divisional command. Visitors can see the bullet marks pitting the base of the Memorial—a tragic reminder of the Regiment's final advance of the war.

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Monchy-le-Preux Newfoundland Memorial
At the eastern edge of the village of Arras, France, is the caribou of the Monchy-le-Preux Newfoundland Memorial standing erect upon the ruins of a German strongpoint, gazing proudly toward Infantry Hill, where a handful of gallant Newfounlanders held off massive German counter-attacks on April 14, 1917.

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Masnières Newfoundland Memorial
”The story of the defence of Masnières and of the part which the Newfoundland Battalion played in it is one which, I trust, will never be forgotten on our side of the Atlantic.”
With these words, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig paid tribute to the ”high courage and unfailing resolution” of all ranks of the Newfoundland Regiment who had fought under his command at the Battle of Cambrai, 1917. This was the achievement commemorated by the great bronze caribou, which stands on a rocky base just outside the village of Masnières, over half a kilometre north of the St. Quentin canal.

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Gueudecourt Newfoundland Memorial
Just north east of Gueudecourt, France, is the Gueudecourt Newfoundland Memorial. The bronze caribou stag erected by the Newfoundland Government stands in a small battlefield park on a low rise. It marks the spot where, in October 1916, the Newfoundlanders played a decisive role in the capture of a German strong-point named Rainbow Trench, thus wiping out the sting of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel.

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Bowring Park, Newfoundland
Located in Bowring Park, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the caribou monument was unveiled on July 1, 1928. The caribou was the official emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

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At Bowring Park, near the caribou monument are exact replicas of the plaques that exist in France, listing the names of 820 Newfoundland soldiers, seaman and sailors who died in the First World War and have no known graves.

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This was a Trail of the Caribou postage stamp issued in 1919 by Newfoundland postage.

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During the First World War, the caribou emblem could also be found on hockey sweaters and special pins that were sold at home to raise money to help the soldiers overseas.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment Hockey Team 1917

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Caribou could also be seen engraved on the headstones of Newfoundlanders who died and on bronze memorial plaques. This tradition continues today as a recent project saw the Royal Newfoundland Regiment caribou added to more than three dozen street signs in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador’s capital city.

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Royal Newfoundland Regiment Badge

Photo: © Canadian Forces DHH, DND