Of Marble, Granite and Bronze

We have the smell of the Pacific in our noses; the journey is nearly done. Eight thousand kilometres added to the truck odometer, Victoria just a ferry ride away.

Over the past three weeks we steered truck and camper into the heart of 69 Canadian cities, towns and villages to see the community war memorial. Most of them are easily found, in the centre of town by the town hall, post office or memorial park. We went to Sherbrooke QC, population about 186,000, and down a gravel road to tiny Margaret MB, whose population is so small I can find no mention of it anywhere.

Mostly it was monuments graced by a statue of a soldier that drew me to these communities. I learned a good deal more about Canadian war memorials from going to see them in the flesh – or the bronze, granite and marble – than I would ever have known from books. I learned that Canadian war remembrance is a Jacob’s coat. Clearly in some communities remembrance is still a cherished trust: cenotaphs are carefully preserved and maintained. In other places – sadly quite a few – the town memorial is neglected, fading away, even abused. Vandalism is commonplace: evidently vandals find nothing too sacred to spare.

Some memorial statuary is grand and glorious, one-of-a-kind works of art by esteemed sculptors. Others, just as earnest and heartfelt, reflect the simple talent of a local artisan, some of them clearly untrained. Other memorial statues – perhaps the majority – are cookie-cutter variations on a theme, knocked off in American foundries or Italian marble mills.

The passage of nine decades demonstrates in spades that if permanence was a goal some communities chose far better than others: granite lasts better than Italian marble, bronze endures best.

Of course the journey was not just about cenotaphs. That might have driven Jan around the bend. The quest drew us down back roads, into charming communities and delivered us to people we would never otherwise have known. At St. Claude MB (population just 800) we found a remarkable, unique memorial but we also met His Worship Denis Danais, as friendly, accommodating and helpful a deputy mayor as you’ll find anywhere. Pincher Creek AB delivered disappointment and reward: the town’s original memorial statue was gone, replaced by a simple modern stele, but at the Legion we met Brad Anderson, Bob Neish and Dick Hardy and were entertained like visiting celebrities.

We paused at the summit of Kootenay Pass and hiked among a riot of late-summer wildflowers. We went into Grand Forks BC to look at the cenotaph but stayed – most happily – for a five-star Russian lunch at Cecil’s. At Keremeos BC we visited a couple of wineries and came away with a boxload of choice Similkameen Valley product. Fortune delivered us to Aggazis BC and the biggest organic hazelnut orchard in all Canada. Given all that, how could Jan do anything but call the game plan brilliant.

The last stop before we return to Ye Olde Victoria is Lexiville here in Coquitlam. The plan is to spend the weekend with Lexi and the newest Johnson, five-week-old Benjamin – and of course the other household members, Allison and Doug. For all the fun and edification delivered by our latest transcontinental journey Jan is unregretful that no visit to a war memorial is contemplated in the weekend plan.