In April of 1921, the site for the cenotaph was chosen, on the west end of Victoria Park, near Christina Street. The construction of its foundation began that same month. The cenotaph has a large granite foundation which supports a huge rectangular granite block weighing several tons. The cenotaph had three bronze tablets. On one tablet were inscribed the names of sixty Sarnia men who paid the supreme sacrifice in the First World War. On two larger bronze tablets were the names of over 1,000 Sarnians who served with the Allied Forces during the war. The statue of a soldier that sits atop the current cenotaph was not part of the original cenotaph.
The planned unveiling of Dominion Day, July 1, 1921, was delayed when Sarnia Mayor George Crawford visited the Toronto plant of Wm. A. Rogers Company in June and learned that the bronze tablets would not be ready in time. Though the stone monument had been in position for some months, the unveiling was postponed until Labor Day, September of 1921, but again, the tablets were not yet completed. The Sarnia Cenotaph was erected by citizens of the City of Sarnia and officially unveiled by Mayor George Crawford on a cloudy, chilly Thanksgiving Day morning, November 7, 1921. The date of unveiling was inscribed as November 11, 1921, on the cenotaph.
In July 1922, Mayor George Crawford secured a soldier statue for the top of the cenotaph. The bronze statue depicts a Canadian “Tommy”, a man in the full uniform worn by Canadian soldiers in the First World War. The statue was sculpted in 1921 by Mr. J.G. Tickle of Toronto. On November 11, 1922, the cenotaph was rededicated and on the east side a new bronze tablet was attached bearing the names of forty-two Sarnia men who had died in the Great War, but had been inadvertently omitted from the original tablets.
Before the end of the Second World War a memorial was discussed to acknowledge the returning soldiers and commemorate the fallen. For several reasons the plans were aborted. In April of 1950, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent visited Sarnia and was surprised there was no cenotaph dedicated to Second World War fallen soldiers. In October 1950, Mayor W.C. Nelson, Aldermen Paul Blundy and Iven Walker and representatives of local Veterans organizations (Canadian Corps Association, Canadian Legion and Sarnia Wing 403 Air Force Association) formed a committee to plan for some type of Sarnia Second World War memorial.
The new renovated Sarnia Cenotaph, which is the one that currently exists in what is now called Veterans Park, was re-dedicated on November 11, 1955, ten years after the conclusion of Second World War. The grey marble was enlarged with two wings, inscribed with the names of Sarnia’s fallen soldiers from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. The four original bronze tablets were removed and located on the outside west wall of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 62 on Front Street.
In June of 2013, the Royal Canadian Legion Sarnia Branch 62, with financial assistance from the Federal Government, completed a restoration project on the cenotaph. In the spring of 2019, Tom Slater brought his Sarnia War Remembrance Project research to the Sarnia Historical Society. The Sarnia Historical Society, led by Ron Reale Smith, and the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 62 concluded that 26 names would be added to the Sarnia cenotaph (10 First World War, 10 Second World War, 3 Korean War, 2 Afghanistan and 1 In Service of Canada).
In the fall of 2019, the Sarnia Legion Branch 62 and Sarnia Historical Society completed a refurbishing of the plaques on the cenotaph, along with refinishing the plaques and monument in front of the Sarnia Legion. Carving the new names into the cenotaph stone was completed in November 2019 with the financial support of the Sarnia Legion Branch 62, the Sarnia Historical Society, the Imperial Sarnia Site and Bluewater Power. On November 11, 2019, as part of the Remembrance Day ceremony the 26 names were officially unveiled.
When the rifle from the Tommy statue's back was discovered missing it was sent to Georgetown, Ontario, for repairs in early 2021. The statue was removed from the cenotaph on June 28, 2021, to be shipped.
