New Brunswick

This memorial is dedicated to members of RCAF. City and County of Saint John who gave their all that we may live. It was erected by (Saint John) Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force Association.

This memorial is dedicated to those who fought in the wars of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The cross was unveiled in 1959.

In 1922, the Municipal Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire in Saint John held a meeting to organize a memorial to honour the city’s war dead. The War Memorial Committee held a design competition and chose a design by Canadian sculptor, Alfred Howell. It symbolizes the triumph of victory through sacrifice with a winged bronze figure holding a flag of victory and a cross. She stands on a globe, suggesting the universal victory for which men died. A statue below, depicts a figure mourning, with her hands resting on a sword and at its feet, lies a soldier’s helmet with a spray of laurel leaves on it. 

The War Memorial Committee wanted to put the monument at the head of King Street, which was in the center of town and close to many prominent buildings and institutions. However, in 1885 the local branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had installed a water fountain at the head of King Street in memory of the Loyalist women who had settled in the city. Some prominent Saint John citizens, including the mayor, thought that removing the fountain would be erasing that sacred memory. The majority of Saint John citizens wanted it moved and there wasn’t a single letter to the editor in favour of keeping the fountain. In the end, the War Memorial Committee put aside the debate and agreed to put the memorial a few feet to one side of the fountain in order to unveil the memorial in a timely fashion.

The lower mourning statue was covered in a massive Union Jack which General A.H. Macdonell removed on June 10, 1925, with the words, "I now reverently unveil this War Memorial to the glory of those citizens of Saint John who served in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, or as nursing sisters, who lost their lives in the Great War." General Macdonell commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade of which the local regiment, the 26th New Brunswick Battalion was part.

Canon Lawrence prefaced his dedicatory prayer by saying that Saint John is a good place to live in, thanks to the sacrifices of the men whom this memorial remembered. "Be it ours," he said, "to make Saint John what they would like it to be." The War Memorial was erected for $20,000 in perpetual memory of those who paid the supreme sacrifice during the Great War. On June 24, 1925, the City of Saint John formally took over the care and maintenance of the memorial. 

The dates of the Second World War, Korean War, and Afghanistan were added to the memorial after those conflicts.

Alfred Howell was born in 1889 in Oldbury, England and studied at the Royal College of Art in London. In Canada, he taught at the Toronto Central Technical School. Following the First World War, he was awarded a contract to create bronze monuments throughout Canada to commemorate the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers. His commissions include: Guelph War Memorial, Garden of the Unforgotten, Triumph of Right over the God of War, William Hamilton Merritt Memorial and Central Technical School Memorial.

This memorial is located at the departure location of the 26th "New Brunswick" Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. It was erected by the 26th Battalion Overseas Association and Saint John Port Authority.

The 26th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force was  the only infantry battalion raised in New Brunswick that saw action in the First World War. It departed Saint John on 13 June 1915 and returned on the SS Olympic on 16 May 1919. The battalion had a total strength of 5,719, suffered 918 dead, 2,977 non-fatal casualties, and won 334 honours and awards.

The statue on the South African War Monument was added in two phases. The stone bottom was added in 1902, but a decision was not made on the form of the top until almost two years later when enough funding was secured through Margaret Baizley and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

A bronze statue of a soldier in uniform stands at ease on a stone base, attired in the slouch hat, cross belts of ammunition, a pistol on his belt and in his right hand a Lee-Enfield rifle. The rifle was stolen by vandals in the late 1990s, but it was restored by the 26^th (Overseas) Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force Regimental Association in May 2002.

Fort Howe was a British fort built during the American Revolution after the American Siege in 1777 to help fortify and protect the city. The fort held eight cannons, barracks for 100 people, blockhouses and protective walls.

In the fall of 1777, Brigade Major Gilfred Studholme arrived in Saint John harbour with a detachment of soldiers tasked to secure the area. They brought with them a prefabricated blockhouse and four 6-pounder canons. Studholme opted not to build on the site of Fort Frederick, but on the high ground behind the site of Fort La Tour, which gave complete command of the inner harbour. He named it Fort Howe, after Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe, the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America between 1775-1778. Although fire destroyed the fort in 1819 and much of its property was sold at public auction in 1823, the site played a part in the defence of Saint John until the Second World War.

On 30 March 1914, the fort became the first historic site in the National Parks system.

The Carleton Martello Tower was built during the war of 1812 to guard the land approaches to the city but was not completed until after the war. It was modified in order to be used as a powder magazine from 1859 to 1866 by the New Brunswick Regiment of Garrison Artillery. From 1866 to 1869 the tower was used as barracks. It was not used again until the First World War when it was used as a detention centre for deserters of the 69th Battalion from November 1915 until April 1916. At the beginning of the Second World War the tower was used as an anti-aircraft position by the Eighth Anti-Aircraft Battery. In August 1941 the tower was used as a Fire Command Post until August 1944. When originally built the tower was a round masonry structure, 30 feet high and 50 feet in diameter. In 1846 a bomb-proof magazine was built inside the tower. The only major architectural change to the tower was the addition of a concrete fire command post built on top of the tower. The roof was added to the tower between 1866 and 1868 but it was replaced in 1876. The opening in the roof served as a gun port. The New Brunswick Museum operated the tower for many years under a contract with Parks Canada. The exhibits concentrated on the barracks life of a soldier during the War of 1812 and featured the 104th New Brunswick Regiment. The sentries of the 104th Regiment were a popular attraction for the tourists. The tower was designated as a National Historic Park in the 1980’s. The powder magazine and the barracks were restored. The top two levels contain displays on the Second World War.

This memorial is dedicated to all the members of the Carleton and York Regiment who served in the Second World War. It was erected in 1994 by the Carleton and York Regimental Association. Carleton and York Regiment Story The Regiment mobilized on September 1, 1939. It embarked for the United Kingdom on December 9, 1939. On July 10, 1943, it landed in Italy as part of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. The Regiment was moved to North-West Europe in March of 1945. The "2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Carleton and York Regiment)" mobilized on June 1, 1945, for service with the Canadian Army Pacific Force, but Japan surrendered before the force could be sent into action. Battle Honours: Landing in Sicily, Landing at Reggio, Point 59, Hitler Line, Naviglio Canal, Italy 1943-1945, North-West Europe 1945.

This memorial was erected by Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 92 on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Canadian Legion in 1976. It is dedicated to the memory of the war dead of the two World Wars and the Korean War.

The Jervis Bay was a 1922 vintage passenger liner of 14,000 tons employed mainly in the United Kingdom - Australia run. When the Second World War broke out, it was converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser with seven out-of-date 6 inch guns. In the autumn of 1940, it was in refit in the Saint John drydock. Before the refit was complete, duty called HMS Jervis Bay to Halifax. Some of the dock-workers sailed with her to Halifax to continue maintenance work.

In Halifax, HMS Jervis Bay was tasked to escort Convoy HX84 of 38 ships to England. On November 5, 1940, south of Greenland, the convoy encountered the German pocket battleship Admiral Sheer, armed with 11 inch guns. HMS Jervis Bay sprang to the attack and was sunk with the loss of 198 men out of the crew of some 250. The three hour battle provided a sufficient delay to permit the majority of merchant ships to scatter for safety. This action earned Commander (Acting Captain) Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen the Victoria Cross.

This memorial was erected by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 53 and dedicated to the crew of HMS Jervis Bay. The legion has a display of memorabilia from the ship, including a white ensign, clock, crockery and pictures. The legion also helped develop the Jervis Bay - Ross Memorial Park on Lock Lomond Road, where there is an attractive bronze plaque.