Cobourg Cenotaph

Cobourg Cenotaph

Cobourg, Ontario

Type

Other

In 1920, the local chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire began fundraising for a cenotaph. With thousands in attendance, it was unveiled on November 11, 1924, by Effie Bolster, a Cobourg nurse who had served overseas. The design is a Roman cross with a brass sword superimposed on either side. Emblazoned on the cenotaph is a quotation from a speech that Rudyard Kipling wrote for King George V to give when visiting war memorials.

This cenotaph was rebuilt in 1990, and dedicated to the local war dead of the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War and merchant seamen.

Inscription

[front/devant]

TO THE GLORY OF GOD,
IN GRATEFUL TRIBUTE
TO THOSE FROM COBOURG
WHO SERVED
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
THOSE WHO DIED
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 1918
THIS MEMORIAL
HAS BEEN ERECTED BY
THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS

[right side/côté droit]

WORLD WAR II
1939 1945

CANADIAN MERCHANT NAVY
MARINE MERCHANDE CANADIENNE
1914-18 1939-45 1950-53

THE
LIFE LINE
OF THE
WORLD
POUR LA
SURVIE
DU MONDE
LIBRE

[back/arrière]

"STANDING BENEATH THIS CROSS
OF SACRIFICE, WE REMEMBER,
AND MUST CHARGE OUR CHILDREN
TO REMEMBER, THAT AS OUR
DEAD WERE EQUAL IN SACRIFICE
SO THEY ARE EQUAL IN HONOUR
FOR THE GREATEST AND LEAST
OF THEM HAVE PROVED THAT
SACRIFICE AND HONOUR ARE
NO VAIN THINGS BUT TRUTHS
BY WHICH THE WORLD LIVES."

[left side/côté gauche]

KOREA
1950 - 1953