Enduring Witness: 100 years of Newfoundland's National War Memorial

It's a sombre monument to Newfoundland and Labrador's role in the First World War, and on Monday it turns 100 years old.

The National War Memorial in downtown St. John's is one of only two in Canada the other stands tall in Confederation Square in Ottawa, a stone's throw from Parliament.

Part of Monday's centennial ceremonyis the establishment of Newfoundland and Labrador'sTomb of the Unknown Soldier, wherethe remains of a memberofthe Royal Newfoundland Regiment, whodied in northern France during the First World Warwill have a final resting place.The remains wererepatriated late last month during a ceremony at Beaumont-Hamel, a historic site in its own right for the regiment, whichsuffered mass casualties during the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916.

The monument was unveiled July 1, 1924. At the time the province was the self-governing Dominion of Newfoundland. It came nearly six years after the armistice and included three years of planning beforeField MarshalDouglas Haigpulled the rope to uncover the bronze and granite memorial to the thousands who crowded the grounds, streets and rooftops in and aroundDuckworth and Water streets.

Haig commanded the British army on the Western Front for most of the war, including during the 1916 Somme offensive, one of the deadliest battles in human history. The Newfoundland Regiment was nearly decimatedat Beaumont-Hamel.

Haig wrote to the governor of Newfoundland just days after with this message:

"Newfoundland may well feel proud of her sons. The heroism and devotion to duty they displayed on the first July has never been surpassed."

More than 12,000 Newfoundland and Labradoriansserved and sacrificed in the First World War. More than 1,700 lost their lives, and roughly 800 of them have no known grave.

Haig's visit drew thousands and a week filled with events. But the focus was the new memorial, designed byBritish artists Gilbert Bayes and Ferdinand Victor Blundstone.

The artistic design was unlike anything seen in St. John's at that point, with the central statue high atop the middle pillar coined the Spirit of Newfoundland, a woman holding a torch in her left hand as a symbol of freedom inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields, written by John McCrae.The woman holds a sword in her right hand, ready for battle if freedom is threatened.

Below her stand four lifelike figures, each representing a branch of the military, and plaques added over the years to honour those who died in the Second World War,Korea and Afghanistan.

The memorial was designated a national historic site in 2019 the only war memorial in Canada to receive that distinction.

Building the monument

Thomas Nangle,a Catholic priest in St. John's who waspadre to the regiment,served alongside the soldiers, in the trenches, burying the dead, consoling the woundedand motivating the troops.

After the war, he returned to France and Gallipoli and played a majorrole in recovering and identifying the remains of Newfoundland soldiers who were killed in action.

He also spearheaded the establishment of five caribou memorials in France and Belgium, inwhat came to be known as the Trail of the Caribou.

"He knew more than anyone else how important it was for the mothers of those people and all their families," said researcherand author Gary Browne, who has spent decades combing through letters and documents of the era and has written two books.

"They started in 1918, talking about it, but it took until padre Nangle finally had it finished in 1924. He was the leading person, the energy behind it."

Nangle was called upon in early 1922 to help with the National War Memorial after the effort began to stall. Newfoundland was in rough financial shapeafter funding its railroad, the war effort and the collapse of the fish market in 1921.

The push began in earnest in June1921, whena who's who of the St. John's elite assembled for a meeting.

"Those gathered that very first night expressed a bit of embarrassment, disappointment in themselves that they hadn't gotten together sooner to start action on this. So they immediately started formulating a plan and they had a very ambitious goal of unveiling this in just 13 months' time, July 1, 1922," said Beverly Bennett, an archivist with The Rooms, Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial archives and museum."That didn't happen."

But even with a $5,000 boost from city leaders, the project was still on rocky ground.

Money was lacking, and there was a little resentment within the community at a time when people were feeling an economic pinch.

Still, fundraising efforts pushed on.

By the winter of 1922, the war memorial committee had raised $15,000, a substantial figure but far short of the $50,000 goal. That shelved the plan to unveil the monument that year.

Enter Nangle

Nanglemet with the committee and Newfoundland Prime Minister Richard Squires, who told the committee a school would be built in honour of the fallen. Memorial University College opened on Parade Street in 1925.

But Nangle had news of his own: the Imperial War Graves Commission had pledged five pounds sterling for every Newfoundlander who died during the war.

"That would be more than enough to create this war memorial, but he had one condition: he wanted free hand to do this," said Bennett.

Nangle put the project back on trackbut not without another hurdle to overcome: a feud with renowned British sculptor Basil Gotto.

Gotto's fighting Newfoundlander statue stands in Bowring Park. He also made the caribou memorials in France and Belgium.

But in 1923, Nangle fired him from the memorial project over his clay sculpture of a shirtless Royal Naval Reserve sailor carrying a rifle not an accurate reflection of the unit.

Nangle wrote in a letter that Gottodidn't understandhis vision, but it wasn't just the sculpture. A fight ensued over delivery dates, payments, and lower quotes from other sculptors, and Nangle moved ontoBayes and Blundstone.

Eventually, fundraising targets were met, and every cent was spent.

The downtown St. John's National War Memorial was unveiled 15 years before Canada's National War Memorial in Ottawa and 25years before Newfoundland and Labrador became a province.

WATCH | Someone's Son: Repatriating Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier:

Someone's Son: Repatriating Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier

3 months ago

Duration 29:59

It started 100 years ago, with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's padre, Thomas Nangle. He wanted an unknown soldier from Newfoundland repatriated to honour all the men killed. It didnt happen in his lifetime, but a small but mighty team worked to fulfil his dream. In Someone's Son: Repatriating Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier, the CBCs Heather Gillis, along with video producers Chelsea Jacobs and Ted Dillon, follows a story a century in the making from diving deep into archives, to France to speak to the team who exhumed the remains and attend the repatriation ceremonies finally, the unknown soldiers homecoming.

But on Monday it'll also become a cemetery. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will be unveiled in front of thousands, much like whenthe memorial itself was unveiled 100 years ago by Haig.

"Now it becomes a Commonwealth war gravescemetery, and Nangle's dreams come true," said Browne.

Watch the full documentary Enduring Witness: The Story of Newfoundland's National War Memorial at 100 Yearsby clicking on the video at the top of this story.

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