Erected by the citizens of Lethbridge and area, this memorial was unveiled in Galt Gardens on June 7, 1931, in memory of 157 men from Lethbridge who fell during the First World War. The memorial was built of selected granite with a bronze wreath of maple leaves and poppies. Originally, it was known as the Lethbridge War Memorial, but it is now known as the Lethbridge Cenotaph.
The memorial embodies the statue of a Canadian soldier, surmounting a granite pedestal, the whole attaining a height of 23 feet. The statue is of a Canadian soldier in full marching order standing with arms reversed, cast in statuary standard bronze, and measuring nine feet high from the plinth. It was erected by public subscription at a cost of approximately $11,000.
Charles George Alexander Parke was the model for the statue. He posed for photographs taken in the 1920s by A.E. Cross, a local photographer. The photos were then sent to sculptor Coeur de Leon McCarthy in Montreal. The name of the model was supposed to be kept quiet as the statue was to represent all soldiers. When Parke passed away in 1989 at the age of 96, the story was shared by Parke's wife.
“Unfortunately,” said Lieutenant-Governor Walsh, during the unveiling ceremony, “it is one of the frailties of our human nature that we often neglect or entirely forget events and persons whom we should hold in imperishable memory. The erection of this splendid memorial and the unveiling today, in such an impressive ceremony in the presence of the large concourse of people, is a conclusive evidence that no reproach can be laid at the doors of the people of this district that they have forgotten the men who, leaving their homes and their families and everything else near and dear to them, cheerfully laid down their lives in defence of the cause which they believed to be that of right and justice against the forces of tyranny and oppression.”
The Anglican bishop of Calgary, the Right Rev. Ralph Sherman, said, “One thing that the memorial must stand for is responsibility. The war made the world fit for democracy, and we must not neglect our responsibilities in this connection. Unemployment troubles and other matters must be solved if the world is to continue in the way they died to make it.”
Also present at the ceremony were memorial committee chairman, G.E.A. Rice, Mayor Robert Barrowman, Major-General Ormond of Military District 31, Colonel D.J. Macdonald, Major Harcourt, Supt. Junget of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and various aldermen and civic officials. The groups involved in the event included city chapters of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, Canadian Legion, Army and Navy Veterans, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, school choirs and the Salvation Army Band.
In 1956, Second World War and Korean War names were added and the cenotaph was enlarged. In 2000, the cenotaph was moved from its original site in Galt Gardens to its current location.
Coeur de Lion MacCarthy, the son of sculptor Hamilton McCarthy, produced numerous commemorative works after the First World War, including: Winged Victory in British Columbia; Great War Memorial and Lethbridge War Memorial in Alberta; Winged Victory in Manitoba; County of Brome War Memorial, Verdun Victory Memorial, Monument to the Brave and Winged Victory in Quebec; Clifton Hill War Memorial and Woodstock Cenotaph in Ontario.
