Vancouver - Victory Square Cenotaph
 

Those whose sacrifice this Cenotaph commemorates were among the men
who, at call of King and Country, left all that was dear, endured hardship,
faced danger, and finally passed from the sight of men by the path of
duty, giving their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those
who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.
 
Victory Square, Vancouver, British Columbia

The war memorial in Vancouver is a gray granite obelisk, thirty feet high, at the foot of a gentle slope in a small park, Victory Square, on nine-tenths of an acre of green lawn, with ornamental trees and flower beds. Victory Square is bounded by Hastings Street, a busy principal thoroughfare, Cambie, Pender and Hamilton streets and, due to its central location and keystone shape, has been styled the keystone of Vancouver, now, 1944, a metropolis ten miles wide by five deep, of 400,000 people. The Cenotaph was erected by public subscription in 1924, is of Nelson Island granite engraved with suitable inscriptions, and is kept continuously banked high with wreaths of flowers and adorned with national flags.

The monument has three, not four, sides; one side faces Hastings Street, the others Pender and Hamilton Streets, and was designed thus by Major G.L. Thornton Sharp, architect, town planner, and park commissioner, to conform to the triangular shape of the park. It is so placed that, when approached from the east, it appears in the distance centrally at the end of busy Hastings Street. The granite was supplied by the Vancouver Granite Co., Ltd., and the erecting contractors were Messrs. Stewart and Wylie; Mr. Stewart died from the effects of an accident whilst preparing the memorial. The Vancouver War Memorial Committee of twenty-four, of which twelve represented the Canadian Club of Vancouver, and twelve the Civic War Memorial Committee, the whole under the chairmanship of F.W. Rounsefell, Esq., pioneer, and with J.R.V. Dunlop, Esq., of the Canadian Club, as honorary secretary, were the public-spirited sponsors. The Cenotaph cost $10,666.000.

The engraved inscriptions are:

Facing Hastings Street: "Their name liveth for evermore" and, within a stone wreath, "1914-1918."
Facing Hamilton Street: "Is it nothing to you."
Facing Pender Street: "All ye that pass by."

The first, commencing "Their name", is from Ecclesiasticus, 44th chapter, 14th verse, and, the second, commencing "Is it nothing", from Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 12. The word, "cenotaph" is derived from the Greek, "kenos", empty, and "taphos", a tomb, and means a tomb in memory of one buried elsewhere, i.e., an empty tomb.

The ornamentations on the stone include one long sword and two wreaths, one of laurels, the other of poppies; both entwined with maple leaves. A stone replica of the steel helmet, as used in the war of 1914-1918, adorns three corner buttresses. A larger wreath of laurels surrounds the numerals "1914-1918" at the base of the front. Slots in a receptacle of three bronze maple leaves hold the staffs of the Union Jack, the White and Canadian Ensigns, always flying, which are placed there by the Canadian Legion, British Empire Service League, and renewed four times each year.

The Cenotaph was unveiled by His Worship W.R. Owen, Mayor of Vancouver, in the presence of an assemblage of 25,000 persons, naval, military and civilian, and including the Old Contemptibles, 7th British Columbia, 29th Vancouver, 72nd Seaforts, 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, 47th New Westminster, and 102nd North British Columbian Battalions, C.E.F., and others, on Sunday, 27th April, 1924. It was dedicated by Hon. Major the Rev. Cecil C. Owen, M.B.E., V.D., D.D., chaplain of the 29th (Vancouver) Battalion, C.E.F.,

"To the Glory of God, and in thankful remembrance
of those who served their King and Country overseas
in the cause of truth, righteousness and freedom."

The 24th Psalm was read by Hon. Lt.-Col. the Rev. G.O. Fallis, C.B.E., E.D., D.D., of the Methodist Church, and the music included "O Canada" (Buchan); "O God, Our Help in Ages Past"; "Lochaber No More" (bagpipes); "For All the Saints"; "Last Post" and "God Save the King". The first wreath, being the tribute of the Corporation and Citizens of Vancouver, was reverently placed by Mrs. W.R. Owen, wife of His Worship the Mayor.

In his valedictory address, Major the Rev. Mr. Owen said:

"Those whose sacrifices this Cenotaph commemorates, were among the men who, at call of King and Country, left all that was dear, endured hardship, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty, giving their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten."

J.S. Matthews,
City Archives,
City Hall, Vancouver, 1944.

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