General Burns Park was erected by the Veterans of the Soldiers Settlement of Carleton Heights. This memorial is dedicated to Lieutenant-General E.L.M. "Tommy" Burns, CC, DSO, OBE, MC, CD (June 17, 1897 - September 13, 1985).
General Burns was born in Westmount, Québec, attended the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Engineers in 1915. He went overseas in 1916 and fought on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918. In 1917, he became a staff officer with the 9th Brigade and returned to Canada in 1919.
After the war, he attended the School of Military Engineering in England, returning as an instructor to RMC. He served in Halifax and in the Survey Department in Ottawa. He attended the Staff College at Quetta, India and in 1939, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he attended the Imperial Defence College in England.
During the Second World War, he served as Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs. He also played a critical role in the Middle East peace process from 1954 to 1959 and was instrumental in developing the UN peacekeeping concept. He served as a Special Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine (1954-56) with the Department of External Affairs. From November 1956 to December 1959, he led the UN Emergency Force and was Canada's principal disarmament negotiator from 1960-68.
