The determination of the members of The Royal Canadian Legion to perpetuate the tradition of Remembrance in honour of their fallen comrades is reflected in the number of cenotaphs that have been built across the country. They are to be found prominently positioned in nearly every city, town and village in Canada. Each November 11th they become the focus of the community's attention for memorial services that commemorate the citizens who answered the call to take up arms so that others can live in peace and freedom. The other 364 days a year, these monuments stand silently - a reminder of those who gave up their lives.

Memorial Chamber and Books of Remembrance

The First World War had barely ended when Canadians began looking for ways to honour their war dead. Two of the most touching commemorative efforts are also among the least conspicuous. The Memorial Chamber and Books of Remembrance are in the Centre Block, in the Peace Tower of the Parliament Buildings, where they honour 116,031 Canadians who died while serving in military campaigns outside Canada.

The chamber, designed as the repository for the books, was opened by the Prince of Wales on August 3, 1927. Occupying the second level of the Peace Tower, it attracts more than five hundred thousand visitors annually. For many, the visit is a solemn pilgrimage to witness the name of a loved one in one of the six books. For others, visits have a historical significance: the walls of the chamber are pages that tell the story of Canada's effort in the First World War.

The Books of Remembrance, one each for the First World War, Second World War, Merchant Navy, Korean War, Boer War and Nile expedition, and the Province of Newfoundland, rest on six altars. The main one in the centre, is made of stone quarried in Flanders. The others are wooden. Each day at eleven a.m. guards at the Parliament building turn the books' pages according to perpetual calendars for each book. The calendars allow visitors from outside Ottawa to plan a trip to the Memorial Chamber to see a specific page.

Canada has more ornate rooms than the Memorial Chamber and larger books than the Books of Remembrance, but nothing from St. John's to Victoria symbolizes more than this small room on Parliament Hill.

The National War Memorial

Canada's national war memorial was conceived and built in a garden in Kent, England. It was the product of seven brothers from Yorkshire who came from a farming family and had no formal art or sculpture training. It was the result of ten years of labour on their part.

In 1925, Vernon Marsh won the Canadian government competition for a design for a national war memorial. His design was one of seven finalists out of one hundred and twenty-two entries in the international competition. After submitting a model, he was authorized to proceed with his work.

Vernon Marsh died in 1930, but the remaining six brothers and a sister, Elsie, carried on. In 1932 the memorial was finished. It was shown in Hyde Park and received wide acclaim. There were slight alterations made before the Canadian government took delivery of the memorial in June of 1937. For the trip to Canada, the massive structure of the memorial was cut into parts to fit into 35 wooden cases.

The memorial takes the form of a tall granite arch, on top of which stand huge bronze figures of Victory and Liberty. Marching through the arch are twenty-two figures representing all branches of the service of World War I. Upon the faces of these figures the eager expression of hope replaces the lines of strife and death. They leave behind an unlimbered cannon and all it stands for.

The memorial was unveiled by His Majesty King George VI in May, 1939, before a crowd of 100,000 people. Every year since (except 1998 because of repair work), the National Remembrance ceremony has been held at the memorial. Prior to 1939, Remembrance services were held on the lawn in front of the Parliament Buildings at a temporary cenotaph.

Vimy Ridge

There are many cenotaphs in cities, towns and villages across the country that have been built to honour more than 116,000 Canadians who have died in war. On Remembrance Day, November eleventh, war veterans and other Canadians gather at them to remember the sailors, soldiers and airmen who did not live to come home.

It is surprising, though, that one of Canada's finest cenotaphs is thousands of kilometres from her shores. It stands at a place called Vimy Ridge and it honours one of the finest military achievements in Canadian history.

On April 9, 1917 - Easter Sunday - 100,000 Canadian soldiers, supported by 863 cannons, stormed and captured Vimy Ridge. It was one of the great victories of World War I.

The ridge was strongly defended by the Germans, who believed no army could take it. Just two years earlier the French Army had tried, and suffered more than 130,000 casualties.

Although the cost to our country was high - 3,600 dead and more than 7,000 wounded - many historians say this victory marked Canada's beginning as a nation. It was the first battle in which all units of the Canadian Army fought together, and their success was overwhelming. The country rejoiced, and felt new pride.

After the war the Canadian government decided the battle should always be remembered, and determined to build a monument at Vimy. The French government donated 250 acres at the top of the ridge, and the land became part of Canada forever, even though it is 6,000 kilometres away.

A Toronto sculptor named Walter Allward was chosen to design a monument, and work on it began in 1925. It wasn't completed until 1936, but it was worth the wait. Reaching forty metres into the French sky, the Vimy Memorial is made from 6,000 tons of stone imported from Yugoslavia. Resting on it are twenty figures that represent Canada's soldiers and the beliefs they died for. The memorial also recalls those Canadians who died in battle, but whose graves are unknown. Of the 66,000 Canadians who died during World War I, 18,000 were never properly buried; 11,285 of their names are chiselled into the Vimy Memorial. The remainder are inscribed on various other monuments.

When the memorial was finally completed, more than 6,000 Canadian veterans travelled to France for its unveiling on July 26, 1936. Airlines weren't flying regularly across the ocean then, so The Royal Canadian Legion rented ocean liners to take them. The voyage from Canada to France took eight days. They all stood proudly at Vimy Ridge when King Edward VIII unveiled the memorial to their fallen friends.

Few of these World War I veterans are still alive, and the youngest is now in his late nineties. This memorial in France will help us remember them, and the victory that helped make Canada a nation.

(Source: Royal Canadian Legion)