This special memorial was erected to honour airmen who died while training in Prince Edward Island under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) of the Second World War. Thousands of individuals attended the BCATP schools in three Island locations – Summerside, Charlottetown, and Mount Pleasant. A total of 98 names appear on the monument – 32 from Royal Canadian Air Force Station Summerside, 44 from Royal Canadian Air Force Station Charlottetown, and 22 from #10 Bombing and Gunnery School in Mount Pleasant. The majority of casualties were the result of airplane crashes. The memorial has etchings of the principal types of aircraft used in Prince Edward Island for training purposes – Harvard, Anson, and Bolingbroke.
The Millennium project to erect the memorial was spearheaded by Errol Laughlin and Eric Campbell, who searched for the names of the airmen who lost their lives while training on the Island. Various individuals, organizations and all levels of government donated to the fundraising effort. The memorial was erected in Memorial Square on June 26, 2000 and was formally dedicated on September 9, 2000. The ceremony included a military parade and a low-level pass by Air Force jets in the missing pilot formation.
