The second in a series of pedestals commemorating Canada’s wartime history will be unveiled at Regina’s cenotaph in Victoria Park today.
The pedestals are on behalf of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) of Regina, and are aimed at explaining some of the most important moments in Canadian military history.
RUSI President Brad Hrycyna says most people who pass by the cenotaph know it’s for remembrance, but not many know what exactly it is we remember.
“We came up with the idea of commemorative pedestals that we could put at the cenotaph, so that visitors to the park could stop and read about what our veterans have done in Canada’s wars and major battles, and other activities like peacekeeping,” said Hrycyna.
The pedestals being unveiled Tuesday will detail The Korean War and D-Day.
Hrycyna says they decided to unveil the pedestals on Tuesday due to the date’s relevance to the Korean War.
“July 27th is the anniversary of the end of the fighting in Korea, so we chose that day to unveil the Korean one,” said Hrycyna. “And because of Covid, we weren’t sure that we could do the D-Day one on the 6th of June at the time, so we put that one together with the Korean War.”
Hrycyna says while the pedestals are focused on education, their main purpose is remembrance.
“Our mission is honouring the Canadian Armed Forces and it’s members past and present, we want to make sure that they’re never forgotten,” said Hrycyna. “Once we have all 12 pedestals out, I just hope that people going through the park will stop and read and have a better understanding for what our veterans have done and why we must continue to remember them.”
The two new pedestals will join existing pedestals commemorating Armistice Day and VE Day already in place at the cenotaph.
