Original 1922 Memorial Plaque


WWI Memorial Plaque

In I922. after the end of World War One, the serving officers of Six Field Company met to plan and finance a memorial plaque honouring those of the Unit who were hilled in action during the Great War.    

Immediately after WW I, incomplete records were the norm, resulting in a list of names generated at by guesswork alone. Eventually 52 names were catalogued. A handsome plaque was manufactured and mounted on the armoury interior wall. It has been there ever since.     

The Missing 144
In 2000, Museum Curator Lt Col Vince Larocque accessed newly recorded computer data at the National War Museum. Through painstaking research he found that 144 names had been omitted from the 1922 list and therefore did not appear on the Plaque.    

Eventually it was decided by the 6 FES Museum Association to add the names in such a fashion it did not disturb the existing plaque. This was achieved by designing two plaques; each showing 72 names, mounted on either side of the 1922 plaque. In the meantime, the original plaque was removed and renovated to its former splendor.    

Although 85 years had passed, 6 Field Engineer Squadron would be remiss in not identifying, by name, all those brave Members who fell during the First World War.  

Funding for the project was provided through North Vancouver Branch 118, The Royal Canadian Legion, by the estate of the late Lieutenant Christine Lucas CD, (1928 - 1997), who served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps during WW2, and with Six Field Engineer Squadron afterwards.  

   

       


















Why So Many Names?   --  Many More than Major Fell and the 1st Draft!  
After the departure of Maj Fell and the first draft on August 10, what remained of the 6th Field Company CE was tasked to operate a training centre under the command of Capt. J. E. Ward. For the first year their armoury was Larson’s Dance Pavilion. Then in 1915 they moved up the hill to the new armoury on Forbes Avenue.    

Around the new armoury there arose an extensive training base with a cookhouse, workshops, a tented camp, storage buildings, stables and a barrack block. Just to the north, in Mahon Park, bridges, bunkers, barbed wire fences and trenches appeared.  By 1918 a second satellite camp was operating at Hastings Park in Vancouver.     

At these two camps the soldiers received their basic recruit and engineer training. After graduation the majority formed into drafts and boarded trains for bases in either Ottawa or Quebec. There they received even more training before setting sail for England. In England they went into other camps to receive yet more training before sailing to the continent. Those who remained behind in North Vancouver ran the training center, manned the searchlights at the Navy base in Esquimalt, went on recruiting drives or worked on engineering projects. The 6th also became responsible for the training of Forestry Corps and Railway Construction Corps troops.    

From the start of WWI until the Armistice 100 separate drafts were trained and dispatched from North Vancouver for service overseas. A total of 4,176 recruits were trained of which 3,629 saw service overseas, the majority in France, Belgium and England. Over 200 members of the 6th died on active duty, both in Canada and overseas.