Storm spares trees honouring Loyola soldiers

36 maples were planted in 1922 along Sherbrooke

There’s a silver lining to the storm that ripped through Montreal on Tuesday.

N.D.G. Park, a section of which was recently renamed Place de Vimy to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War battle, was devastated by the storm.

But just a bit farther west on Sherbrooke St., the maple trees commemorating the lives of Loyola students who died in the First World War were spared.

The Road to Remembrance stretches along Sherbrooke St. from West Broadway to Westhill Ave. In 1922, 36 maple trees were planted by the side of the road and dedicated to the Loyola High School graduates who died in the war.

In 1996, a 37th tree was planted in memory of Lieut. John Howe, who was killed in 1916.

The first Loyola graduate to give his life was Adrian McKenna. An excerpt from his last letter home was published in historian Gilbert Drolet’s book, Loyola, the Wars: In Remembrance of “Men for Others.”

“I am lying on my bunk, writing by the light of one candle. I haven’t been paid for a long time and can’t afford two candles. We were reckless last night and spent our last two francs on eggs, seven each. I am enclosing the stripes of my great coat … the stains on them are blood from a man who was killed and whom I carried into the trench.”

McKenna was killed the next day. He was 22. His body is buried in Belgium.

For a time, the soldiers’ maple trees were hung with metal plaques indicating students names, and wreathes made of poppies were placed beside them every November. But over the years, the markers have disappeared and it has become difficult to tell which maple trees are commemorative.

Certainly, not all of the original trees survived the ravages of time, but many are still standing. One still shades the Concordia Stingers stadium.

In 2005, a plaque honouring the Road to Remembrance was placed outside of Loyola High School.