INNISFAIL – The plaque on the downtown cenotaph on Main Street that honours the ultimate sacrifice of veterans from both world wars and Korea now has company.
The longstanding plaque is now joined by a second that salutes United Nations peacekeepers and veterans of Canada’s Afghanistan campaign from 2001 to 2014.
The new second plaque was installed at the cenotaph on Oct. 30.
The initiative for the new plaque was led by Doug Holsworth, an executive member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104 in Innisfail for the past four years.
He is also a veteran who served with the Canadian Army’s Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and was a United Nations peacekeeper in Cyprus in 1988.
He said it was about two years ago that he realized there was “something missing” on the cenotaph, and more was needed to be added from recent conflicts where Canada experienced war-dead.
It was then decided by local branch executive members to move forward.
“I took it on myself, and it wasn't a big deal to do. It was just having to come up with a design and come up with the funding,” said Holsworth, adding funding from the organization's Poppy Fund was ultimately approved by Dominion Command at Royal Canadian Legion national headquarters.
He also noted that local branch members Richard Black and Lester Nickel were instrumental in securing the funds through Alberta/NWT Command.
“We had to get special permission to do it because poppy funds don't necessarily always cover cenotaph,” said Holsworth. “But in this case, Dominion Command let us use the Poppy Fund to do it. So, it was entirely paid by Poppy Fund donations.”
The Innisfail branch then received almost $2,000 to create the new cenotaph plaque.
Since Oct. 30 many locals have noticed the new plaque and welcomed it. However, one veteran did notice that “something” was still missing.
Michael Barclay is a veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron. He was deployed in Kosovo in 1999 for six months and in Bosnia in 2003 and 2004 for four months.
Both times he was serving as a NATO peacekeeper during Operation Kinetic in Kosovo and Bosnia’s Operation Palladium.
“As an oversight they forgot to add NATO peacekeepers killed in the line of duty to this new plaque,” said Barclay, who joined the military in 1988 and retired in 2010 with the rank of master corporal (MCpl). “I have notified the Innisfail legion regarding this matter and hope that this will be fixed in the near future.”
Don Harrison, the manager of the Innisfail branch, said he talked with legion members about Barclay’s concern, and it was agreed the issue is a “pretty simple fix”; one that will look “nice.”
“It was a bit of an oversight, and we are going to correct it, and we will move on,” said Harrison, adding the fix likely will not be ready for this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony.
“We'll get a hold of the plaque company, and we'll do all we can do to make it look professional and a real nice acknowledgement of the NATO peacekeepers.”
The most recently available records show that 10 Canadian NATO peacekeepers lost their lives while on missions in the Balkans.
Their service, along with United Nations peacekeepers, are now honoured with commemorative Memorial Stones at Camp Black Bear, the main Canadian camp in Velika Kladusa, Bosnia.
The fallen Canadians from NATO missions are:
• Pte. C. Holopina, July 4, 1996
• Cpl. R.D. Vialette, July 21, 1997
• MCpl T.S. McCrea, March 25, 1998
• Cpl J. Ogilvie, Aug. 30, 1998
• Spr. G. Desmarais, Aug. 25, 1999
• Sgt. H. Jerry Squires, Aug. 25, 1999
• Sgt V. Joubert, Dec. 13, 1999
• Cpl. Robert T. Pollard, Sept. 28, 2000
• Bdr. Gerald K. Bailey, Oct. 27, 2000
• Cpl. Jamie Dennis Vermeulen, July 6, 2003
