The Valiants Memorial to be Unveiled in Ottawa

The Valiants Memorial to be Unveiled in Ottawa

by
EB Lapointe

The Minister of Canadian Heritage announced on the 13th of August, 2003 that a memorial honouring fourteen valiant men and women who gave wartime service to Canada during the last of four centuries would be erected in Confederation Square in Ottawa on May 8th, 2006.

The memorial was proposed by Hamilton Southam and the Valiants Foundation <http://www.valiants.ca>, and is to be located on the Sappers Stairs, the steps leading down to the Rideau Canal at the north-eastern end of Confederation Square's central triangle, the location of the National War Memorial. It will be a memorial of five life-size statues and nine busts.

The fourteen valiants are -

1. The Comte de Frontenac - The governor general during the French régime, he successfully defended Quebec from Sir William Phips of Boston in 1690.

2. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville - He was born in Canada and fought in Frontenac's wars against Americans. His ship, Pelican, sank two English warships in Hudson Bay in 1697.

3. Joseph Brant - A United Empire Loyalist, he fought American rebels in the War of Independence. He brought his followers with him, and they settled Brantford, Ontario.

4. John Butler - He raised the famous Butler's Rangers which fought the rebels from Fort Niagara in Upper Canada, and he finally settled there.

5. Sir Isaac Brock - He captured Detroit in 1812 but died winning the battle of Queentown Heights against American later the same year.

6. Charles-Michel de Salaberry - He raised Les Voltigeurs canadiens in 1810 and defeated the Americans in the Battle of Chateauguay in 1813.

7. Laura Secord - She warned of an impeding American attack at Beaver Dams in 1813, enabling our troops to capture nearly 500 enemy troops.

8. Georgina Pope - One of the first army nurses, she was awarded the Royal Red Cross for conspicuous service in the field during the Boer War.

9. Corporal Joseph Kaeble - He joined the Royal 22ieme Regiment in 1916, and in 1918 he singlehandedly defended his position, and earned a Victoria Cross for his actions.

10. General Sir Arthur Currie - He commanded Canadian Corps in the battles of Passchendaele in 1917 and Amiens in 1918, and successfully ran a mobile war in the last Hundred Days.

11. Captain John Wallace Thomas - He commanded the Canadian Pacific's ship Empress of Scotland throughout WWII and won the CBE for his skillful handling of that ship during a Luftwaffe attack off Ireland in 1940.

12. Captain Paul Triquet - From the Royal 22ieme Regiment, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in 1943 for capturing and holding Casa Berardi, a position of vital tactical importance, during an advance on Ortona, Italy.

13. Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski - He was a mid-upper gunner of a Lancaster bomber attacked by an enemy night fighter, and set afire over France in 1944. He won a Victoria Cross for trying to save the rear gunner, and in doing so, died of his injuries.

14. Lieutenant Hampton Gray - He served in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm throughout the war, winning a DSC for his part in sinking a Japanese destroyer in 1945, and a Victoria Cross for sinking another one a month later, at the cost of his life.

01 January, 2006