New Online Map of World War Monuments in BC Launched
Prince George, B.C.- Heritage BC has launched its interactive web site that lists World War I and II memorials, but Prince George’s Veterans Plaza is, conspicuously, missing.
Nearly 200 sites throughout the province are listed on the map, but there is no link to the Veteran’s Plaza in Prince George. Project consultant Elana Zyblast says the initial mapping of monuments is a result of information gathered from the public, not the Provincial inventory of such memorials.
In the case of Prince George, the changes to the cenotaph which saw the river rock monuments replaced by the new pillars, the involvement of the Dutch community to have tulips planted in the Plaza as a thank you to all who served, are just two of the stories that could make Prince George’s World War monument connect with visitors.
“I know that the (provincial ) inventory could not include everything that’s in Prince George” says Zyblast “There may well be memorials in churches that have plaques in windows and they may not be on the inventory, so it is a good opportunity for the community of Prince George to say What do we have, how did we participate in world War I and II, and what can we do to get the word out on how our community contributed?”
There are more than 700 World War memorials in the province, and they take a variety of forms. From names of streets, mountains and lakes, to rows of trees. According to Heritage BC, the RCAF Women’s Auxiliary would plant a blue hydrangea outside the Chilliwack High School each time they had been notified of a death of an Airforce member during World War II. By the end of the War, there were 49 hydrangea bushes, only a handful of the plants are still on site.
The map was intended to cover those monuments to the World Wars, but Zyblast say there were numerous submissions about the Korean War, “Because by the time communities got around to erecting a World War II monument, the Korean war was underway, and if the monument mentions Afghanistan, we will mention that, but the map was meant to commemorate the two World Wars.”
She says the hope is, that in the future, the map will have numerous layers detailing heritage sites, parks, and other themes that can be added in the future. “We are really hoping we can all kinds of sites, anything that’s of interest and increases awareness about the heritage and history of our Province, if it’s on an interactive map, people enjoy it, and when you get in your car, or you’re on your phone and you want to see something, you have the GPS coordinates to lead you there.”
Prince George will be added later this month “Send pictures, send stories, telling us about the cenotaph, and if it comes from the community it might be someone’s story, or that it was fundraised to get it together, or a soldier who won a medal. Really interesting stories make it more personal and more connected to the community. So don’t worry Prince George, we haven’t forgotten you, it’s a great opportunity to have this discussion, so that when we launch the next phase in a couple of weeks, we have all the Provincial inventory sites, and one or two that we didn’t know about.”
To have the Prince George monument story told, interested parties can send information and the location along with a high resolution photo to getonthemap@heritagebc.ca
Comments
My Grandpa fought in Both WW1 & 2…good Scot he waz.
Now how bout a MAP that points out POVERTY and Dangerous sites that need to be cleaned up,and there are plenty..
I notice they conveniently forgot to
include or just flagrantly omitted
the cenotaph in Prince George.
check for yourself
go ahead ,
down thumb me,
I did notice that you forgot to read the story.
actually I read the story and check out their web site.
I guess PG doesn’t rate?
If you read the story, there’s a great explanation as to why PG is missing. There’s even an opportunity for you to rectify that omission.
One would think that the Prince George Heritage Commission would have known about this project.
How come they did not or, if they did, what did they submit, if anything?
As the article states, it is also likely very true that the cenotaph is not the only World War Memorial in Prince George if one includes plaques, etc. which might be in other places accessible to the public, such as churches.
“Project consultant Elana Zyblast says the initial mapping of monuments is a result of information gathered from the public”.
Who did the consultant contact in PG?
So we have cenotaphs and similar public monuments from places such as
Prince Rupert, Terrace, Houston, Burns Lake, Granisle, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Mackenzie, Dawson Creek, Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, and so on ….
Then we also have the Veteran’s Memorial at the Cemetery: 250news.com/2015/11/08/prince-george-war-veterans-honoured
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