This Remembrance Day, we commemorated our Town's Veterans with a new Memorial. It was a very special occasion for our Town and our Association. A couple of days before the service, we installed two engraved granite tablets at the Veterans Memorial cenotaph. These tablets list the names of all residents who have served in various military and peacekeeping campaigns and have since passed away. As other veterans pass, their names will be added to the tablets. This new addition personalizes the cenotaph and offers a place of reflection for generations to come. In commemorating our Veterans, each year on July 1st and November 11, we keep our promise that they will not be forgotten. "Each name, in turn, whispers the record of a single life lost and invites its own private memorial" (James E. Wright*).
Our Association was proud to be invited to lay a wreath at Friday’s ceremony.
Funding for the tablets was provided by Veterans Affairs Canada, the Town of LBMCOC, and many neighbors and friends who supported our Association’s fundraising ticket drives this past two years. The construction and installation of the tablets were carried out by the Grand Concourse Authority of St. John’s. Many thanks to Michelle Hickey for leading our fundraising efforts and providing pictures. Thanks, are also given to Laurie Roche Lawrence, Chair of the Town’s Heritage Committee, and their summer museum staff for assisting us in the gathering of the names of our veterans. Special thanks to our Veterans Memorial Committee, John Kennedy, Bradley Power, Pat O’Rourke, Charlie Spurrell, and Michelle Hickey. Last but not least we thank Veterans Affairs Canada and the Town of LBMOCOC for their continuing support of our Association. For more information see Projects.
*James E. Wright is the president emeritus of Dartmouth College and a former marine. He is the author of The Challenge of Memorializing America's Wars: The Atlantic Newsletters May 29 2017.
