Cénotaphe de Regina

Cénotaphe de Regina

Regina, Saskatchewan

Type

Autre

Le cénotaphe de Regina fut inauguré lors le 11 novembre 1926 afin d’honorer les soldats de la région tués durant la Première Guerre mondiale. Ce cénotaphe fut conçu par R.W.G. Heughan, de la firme montréalaise Ross & Macdonald, et par Francis H. Portnall, un architecte local. Il a été construit à partir de granit gris de barre, un granit de classe mondiale qui est extrait du Vermont.

Le monument intègre une sculpture du « soldat en méditation » de l’architecte local Frederick Clemesha, qui a servi au sein du 46^e bataillon (Saskatchewan Sud) pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. La version originale de ce personnage mémorable de Clemesha se trouve au Mémorial canadien de Saint?Julien, en Belgique. Les plaques commémoratives représentent les insignes de coiffure des Regina Rifles, du South Saskatchewan Regiment et de l’Aviation royale canadienne.

Le cénotaphe a été restauré en 1990, afin de rendre hommage aux personnes tuées pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale et la guerre de Corée, puis en 2018, afin d’inclure aussi les personnes tombées au combat en Afrique du Sud et en Afghanistan.

En juin 2017, après que des vandales aient gribouillé des graffiti sur le pied du cénotaphe, celui-ci fut restauré par Ron Eisler de Remco Memorials.

Inscription

[front/devant]

DEDICATED BY THE
PEOPLE OF REGINA
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS
WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 1919

[sides/côtes]

IN SERVICE TO CANADA
1899 SOUTH AFRICA 1902
2001 AFGHANISTAN 2014

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND THE IMMORTAL MEMORY
OF THE CITIZNES OF REGINA
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE WORLD WAR
1939 1945

1950 KOREA 1953

[back/arrière]

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND THE IMMORTAL MEMORY
OF THE CITIZNES OF REGINA
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE GREAT WAR

1914 1919

[pedestal plaque/plaque de piédestal]

THE CENOTAPH

A Cenotaph is an empty tomb to commemorate military personnel whose remains are buried elsewhere. The people of Regina originally erected the Victoria Park Cenotaph in memory of the men and women who perished in the First World War (1914 to 1918) and were buried in Europe.

Construction began in 1925 and the Cenotaph was unveiled on 11 November 1926. Local architect Francis Portnall was part of the design team. The design incorporates a carving of the "Brooding Soldier" by local architect Frederick Clemesha, who served with the 46th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion during the First World War. Clemesha's original version of this memorable figure can also be seen on the St. Julien Canadian Memorial in Belgium.

In 1990 the Cenotaph in Victoria Park was rededicated to include the memory of those killed in the Second World War and Korean War, and was again rededicated in 2018 to include the fallen from the South African War and Afghanistan.

Today this Cenotaph serves as the site of Remembrance Day services on 11 November every year and is a memorial to more than 118,000 military members who have died in the service of Canada.

WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM

THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE OF REGINA
Honouring the Canadian Armed Forces
and it members past and present

This Pedestal has been made possible through funding by Veterans Affairs Canada