Welland-Crowland War Memorial

The memorial was originally built in 1939 in recognition of the First World War. Other conflicts such as the Second World and Korea were added in the years since. It will be expanded in 2017 to recognize Welland veterans who fought in Afghanistan and as part of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Kirkpatrick Monuments will carve the words “United Nations Peacekeepers” and “Afghanistan” to the Welland Crowland War Memorial at Chippawa Park.

The Welland-Crowland War Memorial is the last large World War I memorial to be erected in Canada. It was built with over $36,000 in subscriptions collected from the people of Welland and Crowland at the height of the Depression. A nationally significant piece of Canadian sculpture, the war memorial was created by artist Elizabeth Wyn Wood, winner of a Canada wide competition for the project. Judges for the competition were distinquished Canadian artists and architects Sir E. Wyly Grier, Charles W. Jeffreys, Gordon M. West and John MacIntosh Lyle along with local author and historian Louis Blake Duff and County Court Judge the Hon. L.B.C. Livingstone. Born in Orillia, Elisabeth Wyn Wood studied under Group of Seven artists J.E.H. MacDonald and Arthur Lismer at the Ontario College of Art and her work expresses similar themes. She also studied stone carving at the Art Students League in New York. Wyn Wood made a significant contribution to Canada’s cultural life through her modernist interpretation of the Canadian landscape in sculpture and her works are contained in many public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada.

The monument was executed in LaCass Granite from Quebec, and was cut to size by the Thomson Monument Company of Toronto from a full sized clay model done by Wyn Wood. Louis Temporale did the fine surface carving on the piece. Welland’s World War I memorial is unique in that it departs from the design of a single soldier so common on other monuments of that vintage to incorporate stylized elements of the Canadian landscape – red pine and wheat sheaves – along with the representation of a W.W.I trench mortar and two heroic figures – a soldier and a woman – intended to symbolize the “Service and Sacrifice” not only of those who fought but of those who supported the war effort at home. It was unveiled one day after the start of the Second World War on September 4, 1939 by Lieut. Colonel Archdeacon F. G. Scott, D.S.O., Senior Chaplain of the First Canadian Division during World War I and a noted Canadian poet.

Inscription

[front/devant]

SERVICE AND SACRIFICE

AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

1914-18
1939-45
KOREA

[side/côté]

[left side/côté]

1914
1918

1939
1945

KOREA

[right side/côté]

(Wording in the photo is not clear/mais le texte n’est pas clair sur la photo)

[rear/arrière]

[left side/côté gauche]

1914 – THESE GAVE THEIR LIVES – 1918

(A list of names follows, but the wording is not clear in the photo./Une liste de noms suit, mais le texte n’est pas clair sur la photo)

[right side/côté droite]

1939 – THESE GAVE THEIR LIVES – 1945

(A list of names follows, but the wording is not clear in the photo./Une liste de noms suit, mais le texte n’est pas clair sur la photo)

[upper plaque/plaque du haut]

[left column/colonne de gauche]

The Welland-Crowland War Memorial was
dedicated on September 4, 1939, one day
after the start of World War ll. This was the
last, large World War l memorial erected in
Canada and is recognized as a nationally
significant piece of Canadian sculpture. It
is made from Lacasse granite and was
designed by noted Canadian sculptor,
Elizabeth Wyn Wood.
Its unique dsign incorporates two heroic
figures, a soldier and a woman, along with
a trenchmortar and stylized elements of the
Canadian landscape. The theme represents
“service and sacrifice”.
This plaque was unveiled on
September 11, 1999
by His Excellency the Right Honourable
Romeo Leblanc P.C., C.C., C.M.M., C.D.,
Governor General and Commander-in-Chief
of Canada and the Honourable Gilbert Parent
M.P., Speaker of the House of Commons.

[right column/colonne de droite]

Le Monument aux mons de Welland-Crowland
a été inauguré, le 4 septembre 1939, un jour
après le début de la Deuxième Guerre
mondiale. Dernier grand monument aux morts
de la Première Guerre mondiale érigé au
Canada, c’est un ouvrage national important
dans le domaine de la sculpture canadienne.
CEuvre de la Canadienne Elizabeth Wyn
Wood, il est sculpté dans du granit Lacasse.
Son dessin unique se compose de deux
personnages héroiques, un soldat et une
femme, ainsi que d’un mortier de chantier et
d’éléments stylisés du paysage canadien. Il
a pour theme <>
Son Excellence, le très honorable
Roméo LeBlanc, C.P., C.C., C.M.M., C.D.,
Gouverneur général et commandant en chef
du Canada et l’honorable Gilbert Parent,
député, président de la Chambre des
communes, ont dévoilé cette plaque le 11
septembre 1999.

[lower plaque/plaque du bas]

SPONSORS

[left coloumn/colonne de gauche]

ATLAS SPECIALTY STEELS
A DIVISION OF ATLAS STEELS INC.
CHEVALIERS DE COLOMB NO. 8296

[right column/colonne de droite]

CLUB RICHELIEU WELLAND
WELLAND OPTIMIST CLUB INC.

Dévoilé le 4 septembre 1939, ce mémorial a été érigé par les citoyen de l’endroit en l’honneur des anciens combattants de la Première Guerre mondiale et de ceux qui y ont laissé leur vie. Il a ensuite été agrandi pour inclure les commémorations de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et de la guerre de Corée.

Il sera agrandi en 2017 pour rendre hommage aux vétérans de Welland qui ont combattu en Afghanistan et dans le cadre des opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies.

Kirkpatrick Monuments a sculpté les mots « United Nations Peacekeepers » (Casques bleus des Nations Unies) et « Afghanistan » sur le monument commémoratif de guerre de Welland-Crowland situé dans le parc Chippawa.

Madame Elizabeth Wynn-Wood, une sculpteure de Toronto, a reçu le premier prix pour sa conception du monument commémoratif de guerre de Welland-Crowland en 1934. Elle a également produit des sculptures et des monuments architecturaux, y compris le monument au roi George IV à Niagara Falls, en Ontario (1963), quatre sculptures pour l’esplanade d’accès au pont Rainbow, à Niagara Falls, en Ontario (1940-1942), deux sculptures en relief pour l’édifice de la Banque de Montréal à Toronto (1947-1948) et le Leacock Memorial à la bibliothèque publique d’Orillia (1949).

Le texte de l’inscription figure dans la section anglaise.