15 Main St. West, Lisle, Ontario Constructed
in August 1968, in memory of Canadian War
Veterans and particularly veterans from this
area.
This Cenotaph was built by fraternal members
of the Lisle Legion. It is used in all
Remembrance Services. In 1994, the previously
smooth surface was recovered with field stone.
All maintenance is done by Legion Members.
After the completion of the present Lisle
Legion, it was decided to build some type of
memorial or a marker of some kind to honour those
who served and died for their country. This was
particularly needed for the November 11th
Memorial Services and other services that were
held outdoors.
In both the first Legion (Railroad Station)
and for a few years at the present Legion, a
large square wooden platform was used, both as a
saluting base and for the mounting of the guard
during the outdoor portion of the Memorial
Service.
In 1968 a soldier, Sgt. Vince Sullivan, had
built the Cenotaph in Worthington Park in Base
Borden. He was approached to see if he would
build a similar one for the Lisle Legion. He
consented to build it free of charge and all he
required were a few people to help him.
He still had the forms from the one he built in
Borden plus a few bags of cement and the
colouring that goes into the cement. This was
good news for the Legion and the job was done in
one week of evenings that summer.
With the exception of Sgt. Sullivan, all the
work on the Cenotaph was done by Fraternal
Members of the Lisle Legion.
One of the bigger controversies was trying to
agree on the proper wording for the inscription
on the brass plate.
Some members wanted the words "For King
and Country", others wanted
"Commonwealth and Country", while
others thought "British Empire" would
be right. Still, others wanted to omit anything to
do with Sovereignty entirely.
Eventually, these words were chosen but not
until after two meetings and a lot of hot debate.
"IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO
LAID DOWN
THEIR LIVES FOR THIS COUNTRY"

These are the Fraternal Members who built the
Cenotaph and some background information on them:
Tom Butler: Born, raised and lived in the
Stone House on the Forth Line of Lisle until he
moved to Alliston in the fall of 1996.
Vince Sullivan: Retired from Army and lives at
Arthurette, New Brunswick.
Alec Begg: Deceased. Lived in house south of
Lisle where Elvis Jamieson now lives. His
daughter is Barbara Adams, a member of the Lisle
Legion, as is her husband Gord and daughters
Debra Adams and Dawn Charpentier. Barb Adams
lives in Spruce Grove, Alberta.
Jim Lane: Deceased. Owned and operated the
Lisle Restaurant in the late 50's and early 60's.
Claude Patton: Deceased. Farmed west of Lisle
and was mailman in that area for many years. His
sons Bill and Don, both belong to the Lisle
Legion.
At a General Meeting in October of 1994, it
was decided that the old Cenotaph needed a face lift.
A contractor was hired to do the job. He
resurfaced the base that the Cenotaph stands on
and recovered the previously smooth surface of
the Cenotaph with distinct coloured field stone
which further enhanced this impressive memorial.
The work was completed on August 31st, 1995.
Mike Nimigeon
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