Newfoundland & Labrador

The Sergeant Gander and his Handler Memorial was born of a school reunion held in Gander in 2010 and is a gift to the children of Gander from the early children of Gander (1951 to 1964). Sergeant Gander was the living mascot of the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment. He died in action during the Battle of Hong Kong, saving the lives of several Canadian soldiers. 

The statue of Gander is accompanied by a statue of his Second World War handler of the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment and was unveiled on July 23, 2015. It was sculpted by Morgan MacDonald.

Philip Doddridge, a member of the Royal Rifles who fought alongside Sergeant Gander and spent three years in a Japanese POW camp was at the unveiling. "He was very much loved by all of us, he followed us to Hong Kong and was killed in action." The planning committee worked on the project for five years.

Sergeant Gander was a Newfoundland dog raised by the Hayden family on the airport base in Gander, Newfoundland. He was a friendly dog who loved playing with children. He enjoyed living on the base but spent too much time on the runways, trying to catch the planes as they came in to land.

Because he was growing to be so large, the Hayden family gave the playful dog to the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment stationed at the Gander airport. He quickly became a good friend and mascot. In 1941, the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment was sent to Hong Kong to defend the land from an enemy invasion. The men couldn’t bear to leave Gander behind, so they gave him the rank of “Sergeant” and he boarded the troopship with his fellow soldiers.

Fred Kelly was the soldier responsible for feeding Gander and giving him cool showers to keep him comfortable in the heat. Gander was a mascot, but he was also a fellow soldier with a job to perform. He would bark and nip at the legs of the enemy, scaring them away. One night in December 1941, Gander showed his true courage. He knew what a grenade was and how it could hurt people. That night, Gander saw a grenade tossed near a group of wounded Canadian soldiers. He ran to it and rushed away with it. The grenade exploded and Gander was killed. But he had saved the lives of the seven soldiers! 

In 2000, Gander was awarded the Dickin Medal for his bravery during a gathering of Veterans in Ottawa. There stood Fred Kelly with a Newfoundland dog named Rimshot, who represented Gander, the brave mascot-soldier. Gander’s medal was the first awarded to a Canadian animal and is now displayed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

Morgan has completed many military pieces across the province:  The Homecoming, One Hundred Portraits of the Great War and Caribou Memorial Veterans Pavilion, St John's; Danger Tree and Private Hugh McWhirter Statue, Corner Brook; Monument of Honour, Conception Bay South; Cox's Cove War Memorial.

Colonel All M Oglivie (Joe) was one of the most decorated Newfoundlanders from the Second World War. He received the French Croix de Guerre with Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar and CD, and Mentioned in Dispatches Officer of the Order of Military Merit.

Oglivie was an Observer in the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1944. On Ogilvie's 51st operation, he was shot down over France on the night of 11/12 March, 1943. Pilot Norman Mackie told the crew to bale out, but did not have his parachute on. Joe is credited with saving his life when he went back to check on him and helped him with his parachute. They baled out at 2000 ft.

Joe landed in a field in north east France, dazed and limping he kept to small back roads. At the village of Heiltz, a frightened old farmer did what he could to help. At a cafe in Vitry le Francoise, he asked a woman for help. She became very excited and went to the telephone, panicked (she had in fact telephoned for someone to help), he ran out and hid in the woods for several hours. Local French citizens helped him reach Blaise-sous-Azillieres where Flight Engineer, Ralph Henderson, was also hiding. They were taken to meet a member of the Resistance and travelled by train to Paris then to Toulouse.

They were hidden for eleven days, given help and fake identity cards before moving by train to a member of the Underground's estate. In May, the Gestapo swooped the area and the quickly moved with a guide to the Spanish border. By train, bus and walking they reached the foothills of the Pyrenees. They were arrested at Lerida and jailed for five days until the British Consulate arranged for their release. 

The prison diet made Joe so ill he could not travel back to England. He recuperated at a Spanish summer resort and arrived in Glasgow on June 6, 1943. In 1944, he transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force and continued a distinguished career. He was a member of the Canadian Branch of the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society.

Francis (Mayo) Lind was born on March 9, 1879, in Betts Cove, Newfoundland. He enlisted with the Newfoundland Regiment on September 16, 1914, in St John’s. On September 26, Lind sent the first of 32 letters that appeared in the St. John’s Daily News. In his fourth letter from Stobs Camp on May 20, 1915, he complained about English tobacco. The Imperial Tobacco Company Limited of St. John’s (maker of Mayo brand tobacco) launched an appeal for donations to buy tobacco and in July, 1,700 pounds of Mayo arrived at Stobs. Lind wrote: “It is needless to say I am now called Mayo Lind.”

After training in Egypt, his regiment was dispatched to the Dardanelles in September. Hospitalized that winter, first for jaundice and then for frostbite in his feet, Lind rejoined his unit in March, in France, but suffered from influenza and continued problems with his right foot until the end of May. While north of the Somme River, the regiment received a second shipment of Christmas Mayo-Linds, which had been following them for more than six months.

On July 1, 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, Lind and his comrades were in a trench known as St. John’s Road. After most of the regiment went over the top, they had to advance over 250 yards, including belts of barbed wire. Lind was killed advancing towards the Danger Tree. The next day only 68 out of 778 Newfoundlanders answered the roll-call. In November, the Lind family was still trying to confirm Frank’s death.

The Mayo-Lind Tobacco Fund continued for the duration of the war. Afterwards the publisher of the Daily News, John Alexander Robinson, produced a small volume of The letters of Mayo Lind “in memory of the cheerful soldier.”

Walter B. Tucker received the rank of Brigadier in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. He was an officer in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. Later he became a captain in the Indian Army. He was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1944 and was the commanding officer of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Brigadier Commander 1 Militia Group. After the war, he returned to Grand Falls and worked for the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company.

After the start-up of the Regiment again in 1949-50, he became an integral part of this re-organization. He also became the town’s first mayor after incorporation in 1961.

The Southcotts arrived from England in 1911. This family sent three sons to the First World War. Arthur and Raymond (prisoner of war) survived, but Thomas was killed at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916.

Sheppard Street was constructed in the early 1980s and named in honour of Reginald and Maxwell, who lost their lives during the Second World War.

Peter Sampson, a member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War distinguished himself in battle, being awarded for his efforts and bravery at Gueudecourt France, the Distinguished Conduct Medal as well as the French Croix de Guerre.

George Hicks moved to Grand Falls in 1906 and was headmaster of the first school. He joined the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at the beginning of the First World War and was wounded at the Battle of Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. He reached the rank of captain and received the Military Cross and Bar for his distinguished service. When he recovered from his wounds, he returned to Newfoundland and recruited for the Regiment. His tunic, with the bullet hole, is on display at the Interpretation Centre in Beaumont Hamel.

Sir Vincent Jones, Knight of the Order of the British Empire, fought in the First World War. After the First World War, he returned to Grand Falls and worked for the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company. 

Goodyear Avenue was built in the 1970s. Five of the Goodyear family served in the First World War. Stanley, Oswald and Hedley paid the supreme sacrifice.