Language selection


Search veterans.gc.ca

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

George William Gibbons

In memory of:

Sapper George William Gibbons

April 26, 1916

Military Service


Service Number:

55433

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Engineers

Division:

3rd Tunnelling Coy.

Additional Information


Born:

November 5, 1886

Commemorated on Page 91 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Panel 10

Location:


The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:


TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:

HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Inscription– Inscription on the Menin Gate - August 2012 … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Menin Gate - August 2012 … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Panel 10 of the Menin Gate - August 2012 … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Photo from the National Memorial Album of Canadian Heroes c.1919. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.
  • Photo of GEORGE WILLIAM GIBBONS– Photo from the National Memorial Album of Canadian Heroes c.1919. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.
  • Inscription on Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial
  • Memorial Plaque– World War One memorial tablet, St. Paul's (Anglican), Bloor St. East, Toronto, Ontario.  One of two memorial tablets set within a spectacular carved alabaster chancel screen.  Erected in memory of the men of St. Paul's who died during the first World War and unveiled in March 1926.   Each alabaster tablet incorporates mosaic work depicting kneeling angels holding a laurel wreath and a torch.  Seventy-six names in total were listed by date of death.   Inscribed:  ¿DYING AND BEHOLD WE LIVE¿, and ¿So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.¿ (John Bunyan).
  • Inscription– World War One memorial tablet set in the chancel screen at St. Paul's (Anglican),  Toronto, Ontario.  The screen is in three sections, with the two outside sections displaying the tablets.  The chancel screen includes statues of twelve historic figures including Admiral Earl Beatty, King George V, Earl Kitchener, Marshal Foch, Earl Haig, and Lord Byng of Vimy.  The screen was the work of Messrs. J. Wippell & Co., of Exeter, England.

The great chancel war memorial windows are located above. These are inscribed:   "To the Greater Glory of God and in Everlasting Remembrance of the Men of St. Paul's Parish who gave their lives in Defence of Justice, Liberty and Truth, A.D. 1914-1919."  They were unveiled in 1921 by the Governor-General of Canada, Baron Byng of Vimy.  Another World War One memorial window in honour of the men named on the tablets is located on the east wall of the Nave.  The panels include fragments of glass from 70 buildings in the war zones.  It was unveiled by Baron Byng of Vimy in 1922.  Both windows were manufactured by Robert McCausland Ltd. of Toronto.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

Date modified: