The Mémorial Nipissing Junction - West Ferris Memorial was installed by Signature Memorials Ltd., Orillia, Ontario on August 3, 2023, and dedicated in a special ceremony on the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, September 17, 2023. The memorial was designed by Signature Memorials, Meredith Park and Len Davis, MMM, CD11.
The three tablets represent the three arms of the Canadian Armed Forces - Navy, Army and Air Force. The capstone joins all three tablets in a common purpose. Each arm of the Canadian Armed Forces has a crest engraved on their tablet. The new cenotaph honours all men and women who served during a time of conflict, with the inscription “REMEMBERING ALL WHO HAVE SERVED” on the capstone. There are two maple leaves and three poppies on the capstone.
Names were not inscribed on the memorial, because like an unknown soldier, missing the name of a soldier on a memorial would be unthinkable. That being said, this memorial was dedicated during the ceremony, on September 17, 2023, to the following known war dead from the Nipissing Junction - West Ferris area:
Donald Williamson MacKenzie - B143824
Robert Albert Charland - J29054
Orval McParland - B89029
Russell Turcotte - B110352
John Glenn - J36021
John George Mervyn Sparling - B11852
Harry Horace Pennell - B42738
The brass plaque from the original cenotaph will be placed on a pillow stone in front of the memorial.
The current location of the West Ferris Legion Branch 599 was a public school built in 1934 which schooled many of the men and women who signed up to go to war. For a small rural school, it sent its fair share of soldiers to fight.
The Poppy symbol is used with the permission of the Royal Canadian Legion. Badges and names is used courtesy of and with permission of the Department of National Defense.
