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War Memorials

From the huge Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France to a cairn in a village in Canada, war memorials remind us of our history on the battlefield. Memorials were erected after the First World War, and then often supplemented with inscriptions about the Second World War, Korean War, and NATO and peacekeeping missions. War memorials have a wide variety of styles and wording. New memorials are also created as our understanding of the past increases.

Not just for noticing on Remembrance Day, these memorials on any day invite reflection on citizenship, war, and peace.

Photos by David McConkey.


                              
             Cross of Sacrifice in the Commonwealth                    Canadian National Vimy Memorial, France
             War Cemetery, Vimy Ridge, France.                    
             


                              
             Cross of Sacrifice in Brandon, Manitoba;                    Brandon Internment Camp plaque installed
             unusual in that it was erected by public                       in 1997: "Ukrainian-Canadians and other
             fundraising: "Those Who Died for King and                immigrants unjustly imprisoned as 'enemy
             Country in the Great War."                                          aliens' during 1914 - 1920."
                                                   
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                         

                                
              Alexander, Manitoba: "Our Glorious Dead."               Griswold, Manitoba: "Sacrificed Their Lives
                                                                                                 on the Altar of Freedom and Liberty in the
                                                                                                 Great European War."



                              
              Rivers, Manitoba: "Vimy, Mons, Somme,                    Rapid City, Manitoba: "Their Name Liveth
              Ypres; Those Who Fell in the Great War."                 For Evermore."