page_title: Victory Square, Vancouver
section_title: Victory Square Cenotaph
hierarchical_section_title: Victory Square, Vancouver / Victory Square Cenotaph
caption_attribution_description: English: The Cenotaph in Victory Square Park, Vancouver BC
context_page_description: Victory Square is a park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The square is bordered by West Hastings Street to the northeast, West Pender Street to the southwest, Cambie Street to the southeast, and Hamilton Street to the northwest. The term is also used to refer to the neighbourhood immediately surrounding the square.
context_section_description: On the northern side of the square, on a plaza flanking Hastings Street, lies the Vancouver war memorial, the Victory Square Cenotaph.  The cenotaph is approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) tall, and is a triangular edifice whose shape conforms to that of the square.  The pillar is of Nelson Island granite engraved with suitable inscriptions, and is kept continuously banked high with wreaths of flowers and adorned with national flags.
  The cenotaph was unveiled by William Reid Owen, Mayor of Vancouver, in the presence of an assemblage of 25,000 persons;  naval, military and civilian, and including the Old Contemptibles, 7th British Columbia, 29th Vancouver, 72nd Seaforths, 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, 47th New Westminster, and 102nd North British Columbian Battalions, CEF, and others, on 27 April 1924. It was dedicated by Major Cecil C. Owen, chaplain of the 29th (Vancouver) Battalion, CEF.
  To the Glory of God, and in thankful remembrance
  of those who served their King and Country overseas
  in the cause of truth, righteousness and freedom.
  The 24th Psalm was read by Lieutenant-Colonel G.O. Fallis, of the Methodist Church, and the music included "O Canada" (Buchan); "O God, Our Help in Ages Past"; "Lochaber No More" (bagpipes); "For All the Saints"; "Last Post" and "God Save the King". The first wreath, being the tribute of the Corporation and Citizens of Vancouver, was placed by W.R. Owen, wife of the mayor.
  The ornamentations on the stone include one long sword and two wreaths, one of laurels, the other of poppies; both entwined with maple leaves. A stone replica of the steel helmet, as used in the war of 1914–1918, adorns three corner buttresses. A larger wreath of laurels surrounds the numerals "1914–1918" at the base of the front. Slots in a receptacle of three bronze maple leaves hold the staffs of the Union Jack, the Canadian Red Ensign, the Flag of Canada, the White Ensign, and RCAF Ensign, always flying, which are placed there by the Royal Canadian Legion and the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League, and renewed four times each year.
  Of the monument faces; one side faces Hastings Street, the others Pender and Hamilton Streets, and was designed thus by Major G.L. Thornton Sharp, architect, town planner, and park commissioner, to conform to the triangular shape of the park. It is so placed that, when approached from the east, it appears in the distance centrally at the end of busy Hastings Street. The granite was supplied by the Vancouver Granite Co., Ltd., and the erecting contractors were Stewart and Wylie.  Stewart died from the effects of an accident whilst preparing the memorial. The Vancouver War Memorial Committee of 24, of which 12 represented the Canadian Club of Vancouver, and 12 the Civic War Memorial Committee, the whole under the chairmanship of F.W. Rounsefell, pioneer, and with J.R.V. Dunlop, of the Canadian Club, as honorary secretary, were the public-spirited sponsors. The cenotaph cost $10,666.
  The engraved inscriptions are:
  Facing Hastings Street: "Their name liveth for evermore" and, within a stone wreath, "1914–1918".
  Facing Hamilton Street: "Is it nothing to you".
  Facing Pender Street: "All ye that pass by".
  The first, commencing "Their name", is from Sirach, Chapter 44, Verse 14.
  The second, commencing "Is it nothing", from Lamentations, Chapter 1, Verse 12.
  The third side represents the continuation of the verse from Lamentations.
  In his valedictory address, Major Owen said:
  "Those whose sacrifices this Cenotaph commemorates, were among the men who, at call of King and Country, left all that was dear, endured hardship, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty, giving their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten."
  The Cenotaph continues to be the focus of the city's annual Remembrance Day services.
  The site of the Cenotaph is significant because it was at tables at the foot of the old courthouse steps where men signed up for the First World War in 1914—which was symbolic for the enlistees bec
caption: Victory Square Cenotaph is located on the northern side of the square.
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