Norwood has long tradition of honour, sacrifice
Remembrance Day services this year will look a little different due to the pandemic.
Services in Norwood traditionally feature a march of the colours (flags), wreath bearers and service personnel as well as legion members to the cenotaph for the 11th hour remembrance service.
This year, the service was to be closed to the public and instead residents were encouraged to watch a recorded version on the village Facebook page.
Historically, Asphodel and Norwood folk have proven to be very patriotic and have always answered the call to arms when required.
As I have mentioned before, the village we know of as Norwood was founded in 1820; its founders were quite fond of their way of life in their new home and very willing to protect it when the need arose.
During the Rebellion of 1837– 1838, records show that a “full company” of men was raised under the command of Col. Richard Birdsall to “repel the threatened invasion from the south.” Thankfully, no such invasion occurred, however, it appears that we were ready to defend ourselves if it did.
A few decades later in 1884-85 during the Riel rebellions, Norwood residents were quick to offer their service again, this time with a total of 41 young men answering the call under the leadership of the future Col. Robert Wigmore. These soldiers left the village for training for several months. However, the fight was over before they reached the battlefield.
Moving forward to 1898, fighting had broken out in South Africa in the Boer War and once again a group of Norwood’s
young men answered the call. After a short period of training, they were sent overseas. A second contingent of men was formed, but the conflict ended before they left for the African continent.
Sadly it is from the first group that the village recorded its first casualty of war: Pte. W.J. Hampton, a member of the Royal Canadian Dragoons was killed in action on June 12, 1900. He is interred in The Garden of Remembrance, a war cemetery in the town of Nouport, South Africa.
A little more than a decade later, rumblings of war in Europe and the persistence of concerned local leaders and citizens prompted the federal government in 1913-14 to build what is known as the Armouries in Norwood. This large red brick building that today serves as the office for the Norwood Fair and as part of the curling club was originally constructed as a place to organize equip
ment and train soldiers before deployment.
The call to service for what became known as the First World War was once again answered quickly by many “Norwood boys.”
Due to the pandemic, I do not have access to our historical archives, so I have been unable to determine the exact number of enlistments from the area. However I can tell you that there were a total of 31 soldiers from the village who gave their all during the Great War.
Located prominently at the junction of Colborne Street and Ridge Street is an imposing grey granite memorial stone known as the Norwood Cenotaph. It was constructed largely through the efforts of the Norwood Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE).
This organization, which disbanded this year after nearly 107 years, was responsible for the fundraising and organizing
of the memorial. It was dedicated on July 6, 1924.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939 enlistments from the Norwood area were actually down slightly.
This was not because our residents were any less willing to serve their county; it was the simple fact that the population of the village and surrounding area had decreased due to the Great Depression. Young men and families had left the village to try and find work, and it is likely that some Norwood natives enlisted from wherever they were at the time.
It’s almost impossible to calculate how many Norwood folk served, although a further eight names of village residents not returning home were added to the memorial stone.
The cenotaph also has engraved on its base the names of several influential battles that took place during the two world wars as well as a memorial for the Korean War 1950-53. While
there is no record of any one from the village being involved in that war, it should be noted that a few Korean veterans did take up residence in the village following the end of the conflict.
In more recent years, Canadians, including some from the Norwood area, have taken an active part in conflicts in places such as Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Canadian Forces are well known and well respected for our peacekeeping, relief and humanitarian missions in many war-torn areas throughout the world.
Borrowing a famous line from Winston Churchill’ s 1940 speech: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” It is our duty to remember and to honour those brave individuals who fought and those who sacrificed all to preserve the liberties that we hold dear today. Lest We Forget!