MEMORIAL PARK • LONDON
A community project to Honour ALL who served Canada
Phase 1 and 2 are now completed. Remembrance Gardens was completed with a dedication ceremony on August 29, 2015. The main feature was the creation of the giant poppy garden feature, measuring 75’ x 75’ that is currently being groomed to produce poppies twice a year. In addition a new walkway has been added and the entire poppy has a 12 inch border of grey paving stone. Eventually these stones will have the names of those who served inscribed on them.
On April 9, 2017 an important piece to the Canadian story was memorialized in the park. The Battle of Vimy Ridge took place 100 years earlier and hopefully this garden and monument helps to Honour those who fought and died there.
Our World War II Memorial Gardens feature 3 large monuments in honour of the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy. Each monument has the corresponding flag ensign for each service and a total garden size of 60 feet by 20 feet with a wall of Rose of Sharon bushes as a backdrop.
Our D-Day Monument helps to illuminate the size and motivation of the D-Day landings. Many sources refer to this as The Longest Day and it was the beginning of the Liberation of Europe.
On May 5th the Netherlands was liberated by Canadian soldiers after a months long campaign that turned into a humanitarian mission. The Dutch people had been under Nazi rule since the beginning of the war and this date is a key part of Netherlands history, never to be forgotten.
The Battle for Hong Kong was a crushing defeat for the Canadian Army near the start of the war. The Japanese Army overran the island with the final blow happening on Christmas Day 1941. Japanese soldiers committed many war crimes during this battle and 1685 prisoners were captured and were used to slave labor until the end of the war three and a half years later. The mistreatment of these prisoners affected them for the rest of their lives and 264 died while in captivity.
The Dieppe Raid was a complete disaster for the Canadian Army and was one of the worst days of the entire war. In 8 hours there was 916 dead and 1946 soldiers taken prisoner and these POWS would be in captivity for almost 3 years with terrible conditions and almost no empathy from the Nazis.
The Italian Campaign monument is a significant addition to our park as this part of the war is often overlooked and the Veterans who fought there were bitter about the diminished value of there service, and were incorrectly labeled the D-Day Dodgers. The battles in Sicily and Italy were brutal and costly and were the first major successes for Canada in the war.
Canada was among the first nations to respond to the UN's call for support when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950.
Canada sent over 26,000 troops to Korea and 516 died in service to Canada. On July 27th, 1953 there was an Armistice signed to end the war and Canada stayed on in a peacekeeping role after that.
This war was a defining moment in Canadian military history and our troops served proudly and were highly decorated in spite of being known as The Forgotten War.
In 1957 Canada started participating in un peacekeeping missions. Since then, over 125,000 Canadians have served in UN and NATO Peacekeeping missions and approximately 120 have died in service to Canada. Canada has a legacy of being peacekeepers. This Monument recognizes Canadian Peacekeeper Day which is on August 9th, and that was when Canada had the biggest loss of peacekeepers in a single day.
CAVUNP stands for Canadian Army Veterans United Nations Peacekeeping and it is an organization with several chapters around Canada. We put this monument in to recognize the local chapter named The Trooper Mark Wilson chapter after a London Soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.
In the first World War, the Second World War and the Korean War Canada there were many Canadians who were taken as prisoner of war or went missing an action. During the first world war there were thousands of soldiers who had no known grave. This Monument highlights that immense sacrifice and tries to reflect many families never found out what happened to their loved one during their service.
During the first World War and the Second World War and the Korean War Canada had hundreds of ships in the Merchant Navy and the Fate of the armies in Europe depended on supplies and ammunition transported by The Merchant Navy. It was known as the lifeline to the world. Many of the sailors in the Merchant Navy were not recognized until many years after the war was over. Being in the Merchant Navy was a very dangerous place to be especially during World War II.
The monument dedicated to the victims of chemical warfare has a dual meaning. In the trenches of World War I many soldiers we're assaulted with chemical weapons and most of them were affected for the rest of their life by being gassed. During World War II Canadian soldiers were used in testing ranges to see how well their equipment would work and the effects of the chemicals on humans in the field.
This Monument is dedicated to thousands of Canadians who served in the medical services. There were three errors of the medical Corps. Starting in 1904 it has evolved through every conflict, and in 1968 became the Royal Canadian medical service. Every combat unit that goes into service usually has medical personnel serving beside them. The monument is some blazoned with their slogan, which is We Hasten To Aid The Soldiers. That is a motto that the rest of the military counts on.
This Monument depicts how the animals were used in the wars, shown with drawings. 15 hand drawn panels will illustrate the animals in action.
We have the bell at Remembrance Gardens for our May ceremony to commemorate The Liberation of the Netherlands. It will be a permanent shining beacon in our park, and a constant reminder of the cost of World War II.
We currently have four benches in the less we forget design. Each bench is dedicated to someone that served, and we are proud of these symbolic benches. In the future we have to add more benches with different designs.
We always fly the Canadian flag and three flags from World War II that represent the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy. During ceremonies we also fly the UN flag, the Hong Kong Veteran's association flag, the Korea Veteran's Association flag and a flag for our 1st CAV Memorial.
There are currently over 120 individual memorials at Remembrance Gardens. Many families purchase a memorial stone or tree for someone in their family, and we also have a program to honour Local Veterans at no cost to them.
This view shows the placement of all of our monuments and walkways. It also shows our next phase of development. Our monuments are arranged to try and show every era of Canada's military.