Regina and Neudorf

The first stop on this journey was home. I will be finding all the Army service men and women who are buried in Europe from Regina, where I grew up, and from Neudorf, where my mom and her parents grew up, so the first stop was to see how they are memorialized here at home.

Neudorf

The wall of honour in Neudorf is a humble monument but one with great personal meaning to those who see it. I went to view it with my grandpa, and he grew up with most of the men on the wall. He knew personal stories about each one, and couldn’t help but tell me funny stories about some of them, and how I was related to others. This memorial is located in the seniors center, where it is viewable by those who still remember those who it is dedicated to. As a younger generation begins to move into this small town, the basement of the center has been converted into a gym for use by the community. Hopefully as those who actually remember these men move on and more space is dedicated for use by the younger generation, the space will remain dedicated in order to help educate all about the sacrifices made by these men.

Regina

Regina, as my provinces capital, has numerous monuments to the war dead from both world wars. The most prominent monument is dedicated to all of Saskatchewan’s war dead and is located on the grounds of the provincial legislature. This monument is in one of the most beautiful and heavily trafficked areas of Regina, and is a great monument to the war dead. As you can see it contains all the names of everyone from Saskatchewan who gave their life during the world wars.

However, in the Regina Cemetery there is a monument to the war dead solely from Regina. This was the first chance for me since I began planning this project to see this memorial without it covered in snow, and it was a very good start to the trip.

As you can see this is a very touching memorial, even if it is in a location that gets very little exposure. Especially interesting to me was the engraving on a part of the monument. Usually one sees phrases such as “There names shall live forever” or “Let us not forget their sacrifice” which convey a sense of action on the observer, but here I saw one of the clearest calls to action one a monument. Here is says “See to it that their names be not forgotten” and that is exactly what I am doing with this trip. It was especially meaningful that before I even left on the trip I should find such a strong call to action.

Video of the Regina Monument: