Sapper Edgar Blaquiere Ceremonial Pace Stick

The Minto Royal Canadian Legion Branch Number 12 has an encased ceremonial pace stick in memory of Sapper Edgar Blaquiere of Number 1 Drilling Company. Spr Blaquiere died in Europe during the Second World War on 14 May, 1945 and is buried in Holten Canadian War Cemetery, The Netherlands. Born in Minto, NB, there was no family remaining in his hometown in the 1980s, and no wreath was laid for this soldier at the town cenotaph on Remembrance Day. The Construction Engineering Company in CFB Gagetown traditionally paraded in Minto for Remembrance Day and, noting this absence, created a memorial for the Sapper. As the Company had traditionally received an annual request from the Minto Legion Branch for a pace stick to use during their Remembrance Day Parade, on that day in 1989 they presented a cane with Spr Blaquiere’s name affixed, in memory of him.