Regina Cenotaph
Municipality/Province: Regina, SK
Memorial number: 47013-005
Type: Column - granite, plaques - metal, pedestal
Address: 1955 Smith Street
Location: Victoria Park
GPS coordinates: Lat: 50.4481485 Long: -104.612273
Submitted by: Susan Harmer. Keith Inches.
The Regina Cenotaph was unveiled on November 11, 1926, to honour local soldiers killed in the First World War. It was designed by R.W.G. Heughan of Ross & Macdonald of Montreal and Francis H. Portnall, a local architect. It was built from Barre Grey – a world-class granite which is quarried in Vermont. The design incorporates a carving of the "Brooding Soldier" by local architect Frederick Clemesha, who served with the 46th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion during the First World War. Clemesha's original version of this memorable figure can also be seen on the St. Julien Canadian Memorial in Belgium.
The plaques depict cap badges of the Regina Rifles, the South Saskatchewan Regiment and the Royal Canadian Air Force.
In 1990, the cenotaph was rededicated to include the memory of those killed in the Second World War and Korean War, and was again rededicated in 2018 to include the fallen from the South African War and Afghanistan.
After vandals scrawled graffiti across the base of the Regina Cenotaph in June 2017, Ron Eisler of Remco Memorials restored the cenotaph.
Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]
DEDICATED BY THE
PEOPLE OF REGINA
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS
WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 1919
[right side/côte droit]
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND THE IMMORTAL MEMORY
OF THE CITIZNES OF REGINA
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE WORLD WAR
1939 1945
1950 KOREA 1955
[back/arrière]
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND THE IMMORTAL MEMORY
OF THE CITIZNES OF REGINA
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 1919
[left side/côte gauche]
DEDICATED BY THE
PEOPLE OF REGINA
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS
WHO FELL IN THE WORLD WAR
1939 1945
1950 KOREA 1953
[pedestal plaque]
THE CENOTAPH
A Cenotaph is an empty tomb to commemorate military personnel whose remains are buried elsewhere. The people of Regina originally erected the Victoria Park Cenotaph in memory of the men and women who perished in the First World War (1914 to 1918) and were buried in Europe.
Construction began in 1925 and the Cenotaph was unveiled on 11 November 1926. Local architect Francis Portnall was part of the design team. The design incorporates a carving of the "Brooding Soldier" by local architect Frederick Clemesha, who served with the 46th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion during the First World War. Clemesha's original version of this memorable figure can also be seen on the St. Julien Canadian Memorial in Belgium.
In 1990 the Cenotaph in Victoria Park was rededicated to include the memory of those killed in the Second World War and Korean War, and was again rededicated in 2018 to include the fallen from the South African War and Afghanistan.
Today this Cenotaph serves as the site of Remembrance Day services on 11 November every year and is a memorial to more than 118,000 military members who have died in the service of Canada.
WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM
THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE OF REGINA
Honouring the Canadian Armed Forces
and it members past and present
This Pedestal has been made possible through funding by Veterans Affairs Canada
Street view
Note
This information is provided by contributors and Veterans Affairs Canada makes it available as a service to the public. Veterans Affairs Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the information.
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