Wiarton Cenotaph
Municipality/Province: Wiarton, ON
Memorial number: 35009-012
Type: Shaft, statue, plant holders
Address: 579 Berford Street
GPS coordinates: Lat: 44.7427849 Long: -81.1408881
Submitted by: Bill McKendrick. Terry MacDonald.
The Wiarton Cenotaph was unveiled in 1922. The limestone for the memorial was sent from England and depicts a lone First World War male soldier standing at rest, grasping his rifle in front of him. J.S. Cook & Sons of Wiarton worked to erect the monument at a cost of $3,000. The names of those killed in the First World War were etched into its stone, while names of those who lost their lives in the Second World War were later added. Dates were added for the Korean War and United Nations Peacekeepers were recognized on the inscription.
On May 25, 2024, the community celebrated a project four years in the making to refurbish and rededicate the cenotaph, with the newly installed mural becoming a part of the reimagining midway through. Joe Vanderzand was the Royal Canadian Legion Wiarton Branch 208 president when the project began. Vanderzand first brought concerns about the failing cenotaph infrastructure to Town of South Bruce Peninsula council in 2021.
The restoration work included repointing the soldier memorial, demolishing and removing the old flower beds and retaining walls and rebuilding them, waterproofing the interior concrete of the garden and installing stone veneer on the retaining wall and garden beds. Custom wood bench tops were fabricated for the sitting area around the perimeter of the stone retaining walls.
Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]
(left column/colonne gauche)
OUR
HONOURED DEAD
C.W. ALLAN
Wm. BENNETT
B. BLACKMAN
L.E. BOLTON
W. CALDWELL
W.J. CARSON
J.T. CRAWFORD
F.E. DAWS
A. DAY
W.A. DOBSON
J. ELLIOTT
J.A. FERGUSON
L.I. GLOVER
S. HAWKE
R.C. HUNTER
(center column/colonne du centre)
ERECTED TO PERPETUATE
THE MEMORY OF OUR HONOURED
DEAD AND THOSE WHO CARRIED
ON IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 - 1918
FROM THE TOWN OF WIARTON
1939-1945
G. BURBEE
H. CATLEY
L. CULBERT
H. ELDRIDGE
J. FOGDEN
C. FRASER
A.C. GONDER
G. KENNEDY
J. LOUCKS
E. McGARVEY
Wm. McMASTER
G. McMILLAN
B. MILLAR
R. MOORE
O.S. PAGE
J.A. PATTERSON
B. SUSSMAN
S. TILLEY
W. WINCH
D. WRIGHT
(right column/colonne droit)
OUR
HONOURED DEAD
G-W. JERMYN
L. MACARTNEY
W.S. McDONALD
R.E. McDONALD
C.B. MILLER
C. MITCHELL
E.E. POPE
W. RUHL
A.A. SINCLAIR
C. WRIGHT
--------------
SINCE RETURNING
R. McEACHERN
W. SINCLAIR
J. JACKSON
O. WINCH
[left side/côté gauche]
YPRES
FESTUBERT
GIVENCHY
THE SOMME
COURCELETTE
VIMY RIDGE
[right side/côté droit]
PASSCHENDAELE
AMIENS
ARRAS
BOURLON WOOD
CAMBRAI
MONS
[left planter/jardinière gauche]
U.N.
PEACEKEEPERS
[right planter/jardinière droit]
KOREAN WAR
1950-1953
[stone/dalle]
LEST WE
FORGET
THIS CENOTAPH
MAINTAINED BY
BRANCH 208
ROYAL CANADIAN
LEGION
Street view
Note
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