Gaspe Cenotaph
Municipality/Province: Gaspé, QC
Memorial number: 24022-003
Type: Shaft - stone
Address: York Boulevard East
Location: Across from the tourist information center
GPS coordinates: Lat: 48.8268313 Long: -64.4788826
Submitted by: Gerard Plourde. Julie Fournier. Victoria Edwards.
The Gaspe Cenotaph was erected by the Royal Canadian Legion in 1921 and dedicated to the local war dead and Veterans of the First World War. Later names were added for those who fell in the Second World War.
On July 7, 1921, more than 5,000 people witnessed the unveiling of the Gaspe War Memorial by Major-General Sir David Watson. The celebrations opened with Church Services which were followed by a march past of the officials accompanied by a Guard of Honour and the R.C.G.A. Band from Quebec. Major-General Sir David Watson reviewed the Guard who presented a fine soldierly appearance and were cheered by the assembled people. An address of welcome was delivered by Mayor A.D. Valpy which was followed by an address by Mrs. Calhoun, President of the Ladies War Memorial Committee of six ladies who carried out the full organization and all the details of the function. In her speech, Mrs. Calhoun said: “We have had our difficulties and discouragements, as was inevitable, but the loyalty of the members of the Committee together with the generous support accorded to us by the public has made it possible for us to overcome these and bring our work to a successful conclusion.” Eloquent speeches were also delivered by the Hon. Frank Carrell, M.L.C., M. Auguste Sirois, M. Pinault, Mr. J. Leonard Apedaile, Rev. Canon Wayman and others.
Hahn's design represents the sorrows caused by war. The soldier atop the cenotaph looks down in sadness at the ground below him, as if he might find there, his fallen comrades, if not for the tragedy of war.
The statue depicts a young, grieving Canadian soldier in First World War army uniform. With uncovered head, he is standing at a battlefield grave – a simple cross with poppies at the base – the final resting place of a comrade killed in action. His left hand rests on the cross, while his right hand holds a reversed rifle.
Emanuel Hahn moved to Toronto at the age of seven with his family of artists and musicians from Germany, in 1888. He studied commercial design and model-making at Toronto Technical School and Ontario College of Art and Industrial Design. At 25 years old Hahn began a nearly lifelong contract with Thomson Monument Company of Toronto. Two years later, he also started work as a studio assistant to sculptor Walter Seymour Allward. Part of his duties included assisting on Allward’s significant works such as the South African War Memorial in Toronto.
In 1912 Hahn began an association with the Thomson Monument Company of Toronto. It was there, along with several assistants, he made the many war memorials that are found across Canada: Fernie, British Columbia; Killarney and Russell, Manitoba; Alvinston, Bolton, Cornwall, Hanover, Lindsay, Malvern, Milton, Petrolia and Port Dalhousie, Ontario; Gaspe, Quebec; Moncton, New Brunswick; Springhill and Westville Nova Scotia; Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
Hahn is probably most famous as the designer of the Bluenose on the back of the Canadian dime and the Caribou on the back of the Canadian quarter. He was a victim of anti-German sentiment in the years following the Great War, when his design for the Winnipeg Cenotaph was rejected in 1925.
Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]
(cross/croix)
IN FLANDER’S FIELDS
IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THE MEN OF GASPE
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
FOR JUSTICE AND RIGHT
IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918
“THESE LAID THE WORLD AWAY
POURED OUT THE RED SWEET WINE OF YOUTH
GAVE UP THE YEARS TO BE OF WROK AND JOY
AND THAT UNHOPED SERENE THAT MEN CALL AGE.”
GUERRE 1914 - 1918 ET 1939 - 1945
A LA MEMOIRE DES GASPESIENS
QUI ONT SACRAFICE LEURS VIES
POUR LA JUSTICE LA LIBERTE
ET L'AMOUR DE LEUR PAYS
LE CENOTAPH ERIGE EN CE ?
DEMANDE QU'ON SE SOUVIENNE D'EUX
COLOMBE. QUE LE FROLL DE TON AILE
CHANTE LUI TA PLUS DOUCE CHANSON
NOUS NOUS SOUVENDRONS
[west side/côté ouest]
ALEXANDER BEATTIE
ALEXANDER J. PATTERSON
ROBERT WEST
JOHN GUIGNION
ERSKINE J. LINDSAY
ALVAH J. COFFIN
ARTHUR LELACHEUR
WILLIAM J. PALMER
RALPH FITZPATRICK
WILLIAM RABEY
CHARLES H. PHILLIPS
ROLAND I. MORAN
GEORGE A. GARRETT
ARNOLD SIMPSON
ERIC B. EDEN
LEO B. LEBOUTILLIER D.C.M.
JOSEPH MARIN
HERBERT GUIGNION
[east side/côté est]
ARCHIBALD BRIEN
DANIEL G. MILLER
FRANCOIS FOURNIER
VICTOR ADAMS
LESLIE K. COFFIN
NORMAN H. BOYLE
RALPH H. GARRETT
ARTHUR LEGRAND
LEONARD BERTRAM
SIDNEY J. CARTER
GORDON S. ROSE
ALLAN E. ASCAH
JOHN S. MCAFEE
HAROLD R. CLARK
THOMAS HARDING
JAMES H. PALMER
MAYNARD L. EDEN
WILLIAM FITZPATRICK
RODOLPHE LEMIEUX
[plaque/plaque]
KILLED IN ACTION
1939-1945
ADAMS, JOHN
ALEXANDER, LEWIS
ANNETT, WILSON
BANNIER, WILLIAM
BEAUDOIN, ELUCIPPE
BERNIER, ARMAND
BERNATCHEZ, WILFRID
BLANCHETTE, ANGELO
BRIAND, RENE
COFFIN, HERMAN
CLARK, JOHN
CHICOINE, GASTON
COMEAU, OVILA
CURADEAU, VENERENT
DUFRESNE, ABRAHAM
FORTIN, FIDOLIN
FOURNIER, ALEXIS
GRANT, ALBERT
GUIGNON, LEEMAN
HOWELL, VICTOR
HARBOUR, WILLIAM
JACQUES, DANIEL
KENNEDY, WILLIAM
LACOUVEE, ERIC
LENFESTY, FRANCIS
MILLER, TREVOR
MILLER, MORTIMER
MORAN, DAVID
MAHAN, RALPH
MALONEY, EDGAR
MULLIN, ELMER
O’CONNOR, SAMUEL
PATTERSON, HIBBERT
PERREAULT, ARTHUR
ROBERTS, MILTON
ROBERTS, ROBERT F.
ROONEY, LEONARD
REHEL, LEO, M.M.
ROUSSEL, LEO, M.M.
SYVRET, HERBERT
SYVRET, DAVID
STE-CROIX, W. ULLIN
SUDDARD, ERNEST
TAPP, NORBERT J.
TAPP, HARRY
TAPP, ROLAND
THOMPSON, WILLIAM
URQUHART, LEONARD
Street view
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