Ontario

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Sharpe was honoured on May 25, 2018, the 100th anniversary of his death, with the unveiling of a life-size statue. The statue was funded partly through community donations, the Rotary Club of Uxbridge and the Uxbridge-Scott Historical Society. Created by sculptor Wynn Walters, the statue of Sharpe is depicted as he ponders writing a letter, agonizing over how to tell Mary Walton that her husband had been killed. The letter in his hand begins: "Dear Mary..." 

For almost 100 years, history has forgotten Samuel Sharpe, his name buried with thousands who had succumbed to "shell shock". In those days, shell shock was considered cowardice, and Sharpe was considered a disgrace to the regiment. The life and death of Sam Sharpe helps us to understand the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder, and to understand that it is as a condition requiring treatment, rather than bringing shame.

Samuel Sharpe grew up in a prominent Uxbridge area family, and served as Uxbridge's lawyer for a number of years. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1908. When the Great War broke out in 1914, he recruited a battalion of volunteers from Uxbridge and surrounding areas and led them to Europe. His 116th (Ontario County) Battalion saw action at Vimy and Passchendaele among other battlefields. Many men were lost in the mud and barbed wire of Flanders. Sharpe led his men personally into battle, and received the Distinguished Service Order for bravery. He was re-elected in 1917 - the only Member of Parliament ever elected from the battlefield.

By 1918, Sharpe suffered increasing melancholy and then a mental collapse, the result of losing so many of his men, including John Walton, a close personal friend. In that era, it was called "shell shock". Today we know it as post-traumatic stress disorder, and recognize it as a serious mental condition. Sharpe was invalided to England, and then to Canada. While on a train home, he suffered a collapse, and was hospitalized in Montreal. On May 25, 1918, he jumped to his death from a hospital window. He was 46. Some said he could not face the prospect of returning to Uxbridge and facing the families of those who had died, many of whom he had recruited personally. Of the 1,100 men he had recruited, only 160 were on active duty when they returned.

The Town of Ajax was born during the Second World War. At the time, this area was a rural part of the township of Pickering, with nothing more than some farms and little industry. In 1941, Defense Industries Limited established a munitions plant here, and a town grew around the plant, which at its peak employed over 9,000 workers, and was an integral part of the war effort.

The town name is from the British cruiser HMS Ajax, which was a key player during the Battle of the River Plate, the first Allied Naval victory in the war. In December 1939, a flotilla of British warships, including HMS Ajax, HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles, commanded by Commodore Harry Harwood, engaged and crippled the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee near the Uruguayan port of Montevideo. The German ship fled to into the port, but rather than face the overwhelming British force, the Captain scuttled his ship. The Town of Ajax takes its name from this famous battle.

The Ajax Legacy Obelisk stands as a testimony to honour all those who have served and will serve their country to preserve freedom. It was dedicated on October 4, 2009, during the visit of Veterans from the HMS Ajax, HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate.

The Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden was erected in 2015 by the public school, which partnered with Communities in Bloom (CIB). Volunteers planted an interlaced pattern of red and white tulip bulbs in the garden beds. The blooms will offer a visual reminder next spring of the link between the two countries.

Ajax was one of the 140 communities selected from the more than 400 applications received by the Canadian Garden Council. Each of the 140 new 70th Anniversary Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Gardens across the country will consist of 700 red and white tulip bulbs (350 of each colour) donated by Vesey’s Bulbs in Prince Edward Island.

The Garden was planted in fall 2015. Tulip bulbs generally bloom between the end of April and the beginning of June depending on the type of tulip and where it’s planted.

The memorial garden is dedicated as a living monument in recognition of the 70th Anniversary of the original Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden planted in Ottawa at the end of World War II in 1945. The memorial is in appreciation of the safe haven that members of Holland’s exiled royal family received during World War II, and in recognition of the role Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands.

Naming the school Vimy Ridge P.S. represents the significant historical national contribution made by thousands of Canadian heroes and will provide a very strong foundation upon which we will build a thriving and successful school. http://www.ddsb.ca/school/vimyridge/SchoolInformation/vimy_ridge_history/Pages/default.aspx

The Goldwin Lapp Plaque was erected by his family in the St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. In 2016, the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society purchased the church and the plaque remained. 

The larger cairn was dedicated by the citizens of Pickering Township and is inscribed with the names of 20 Pickering men who gave their lives in the First World War. The International Order of Odd Fellows erected the smaller cairn. Si Dixon was the stone mason for both cairns which were constructed in 1922 shortly after Memorial Park was purchased by the Pickering Village Chamber of Commerce. 

On March 26, 2012, Memorial Park Gates and Cenotaph were designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as a property of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest.

Unveiled by the local community on 16 November 1946, this monument is dedicated to the veterans and war dead of the local school section from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

This memorial is dedicated to the local war dead of the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

This memorial is dedicated to those from Uxbridge and District who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. It was erected by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.) and the citizens of Uxbridge.

This cenotaph is a white stone memorial engraved with the names of those lost from the First and Second World Wars.