STC150: Remembrance Day

The City of St. Catharines has a number of war memorials located across the city. 

These include the Watson Memorial located at Victoria Lawn Cemetery, four cenotaphs – located in Port Dalhousie, Merritton, in downtown St. Catharines in Memorial Park, and the Grantham Cenotaph located in Victoria Lawn Cemetery.

There are also memorials to the 10^th Field Battery, the Korean War Veterans, and to the Royal Canadian Legion all located in the veterans precinct of Victoria Lawn Cemetery.

Additionally, there are memorial plaques on the front façade of City Hall recognizing by name the City’s war dead.

During the First World War, when the Canadian government made the choice to bury Canadian soldiers where they fell rather than repatriating their remains back to their home communities, cenotaphs – defined as empty tombs or monuments to recognize a group of people whose remains are buried elsewhere – were built in most communities across the country to provide a tangible focus for that community’s sacrifice.

These monuments continue to provide a gathering place and focus for local residents to come together and remember those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.

The photo above shows the Port Dalhousie cenotaph on Remembrance Day in November  1939 as the country was mobilizing for the Second World War. S1939.48.10.1.