British Columbia Sacrifice Interpretive Panel

British Columbia's Sacrifice

The BC Volunteer Effort
In per capital terms British Columbia's contribution to Canada's war effort of 1914-1918 was among the greatest of the provinces. More than 47,000 BC men and women volunteered for overseas service

James Richardson, 20

Many of the volunteers never returned home. One who remains forever part of the soil of France is James Richardson, 20, 0f Chilliwack, a piper who bravely rallied the men of the 16th Battalion at Regina Trench on the Somme in October 1916. Richardson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour but he never knew it: the piper's performance was his last. He was never seen again.

Gladys Wake, 34

It was not just men and boys who died in the war. Women did too. Nursing Sister Gladys Wake of Victoria was killed in May 1918 when enemy bombs fell on her hospital at Etaples on the French Coast.

Thomas Tombs, 16

At least 225 of the British Columbia fallen were teenagers. Thomas Tombs of Duncan was 16 when he was killed in action while on duty in the 50th Battalion, November 16.

Christina Campbell, 40

Christina Campbell of Vancouver was one of fourteen nurses who died in June 1918 when their hospital ship, the Llandovery Castle, was torpedoed by German U-Boat.

Alfred Gyde Heaven, 18
Awarded the Military Medal for gallantry, Alfred Gyde Heaven of Grand Forks was seriously wounded at Vimy Ridge and died of his wounds 21 April 1917. He was 18.

It was the intention of those who conceived the Shelbourne Memorial Avenue to plant a tree for every British Columbian who died in the war. Hundreds of London Planetrees were planted. But hundreds were not enough. More than 6,000 British Columbians perished in the war.