Sunday public ceremony to officially dedicate First World War monument

A dedication ceremony of the recently completed First World War monument will take place Sunday at 10 a.m. Everyone is welcome. The ceremony for the monument, to be known as the Medicine Hat First World War Monument at Private James Peter Robertson, VC Hill, will include a ribbon-cutting and a symbolic hammering in of the “last spike.” The South Alberta Pipes and Drums will also be performing.

The monument will be dedicated to the veterans and fallen of the First World War and the citizens of Medicine Hat and area, from that period, who supported them.

The monument is located on the slope above Third Street NW near the Trans-Canada Highway. The actual ceremony will take place above the monument on Saamis Drive. Please note there is no parking on Third Street in front of the monument.

The monument was designed to honour the Third Canadian Mounted Rifles and the 175th Infantry Battalion. They were major military units raised in Medicine Hat to support Canada's efforts in the First World War. It was accomplished with more than 100 volunteers working thousands of hours, 72 tons of rocks, 8,300 bricks, and 300 pieces of rebar to secure everything.

The bricks used for the maple leaves, which are 40 feet in length, are reclaimed bricks from the IXL Brick plant in Redcliff where many of the men who enlisted to serve in the First World War would have worked.

The monument will be illuminated at night with LED lights.