Lest We Forget REMEMBRANCE DAY NOVEMBER 11, 2020

A MONUMENT OF REMEMBRANCE

Cenotaphs around are a gathering place around the world, especially on Remembrance Day. Ceremonies take place in front of the empty tomb memorial to remember those who did not return from the First World War and other wars since.

After the end of the First World War cenotaphs were erected around the world in big cities, towns and villages to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The late Alex Balazsi, who was a resident of Medicine Hat and took part in the D-Day landings on Juno beach, described his thoughts to the News in story a few years ago.

"The cenotaph reminds me of the people we lost in the war and what they stood for."

Medicine Hat's Cenotaph was built, placed in Veterans Memorial Park across from City Hall, and dedicated in a special service on May 24, 1922.

In keeping with the solemn occasion, the service included the singing of two hymns, “Nearer My God To Three” and “Abide With Me.”

Brig. Gen. Bell addressed the gathering that afternoon and unveiled the monument that had taken about four years of work and several committees to accomplish.

The task of determining what the memorial should look like began in 1918. By January 1921, it was decided that a monument was appropriate.

On the committee a Mrs Gillespie represented the next of kin, Mrs. Carbert, the I.O.D.E., Maj. Bruce, the Great War Veterans Association and Medicine Hat's Mayor Walter Huckvale.

By May 1921, Riverside Park (now Veterans Memorial Park)

was identified as the ideal place for the memorial. The estimated cost was $4,000 and of that amount only $1,500 was already secured.

"As each and all benefited by the sacrifices made to uphold civilization and the higher ideals of life," reads a story in the News on May 31, 1921, the committee hoped that "every citizen of this town shall take part, however small, in the erection of the monument to our heroic men of 1914-1918."

A detailed drawing of the design was released together with a list of the names to be inscribed on the monument. Only those who died in the war and whose postal address was Medicine Hat qualified.

The community pitched in to raise the required funds. This was delayed a little because farmers had been coping with a drought and difficult financial circumstances.

The superintendent of schools presented $130 to the committee saying the monument would be an "everlasting reminder of those who preserved our country".

The Rotary Club of Medicine Hat raised $1,300 and many of the donations were $1 each from individuals throughout the community.

Edward C.J. Ueberrhein, a local business man who had experienced prejudice because of his German name and heritage, contributed $25.

By the spring of 1922, the foundation was in place. There is a grey granite base, the central pillar is a deep red granite about nine feet high. On top of that is a white marble statue of a Canadian soldier that is about five or six feet high.

Huckvale pledged that he and future councils would "consider it a sacred duty to see that the surrounding of the monument were kept as beautiful.”