Two new plaques have been added to the Chatham Cenotaph.
Len Maynard from the Chatham Legion Branch installed the plaques and says the hope is to further educate the public about veterans to avoid vandalism to the Cenotaph.
“The more we educate the public on veterans and what they've gone through, hopefully it'll be a little bit more respect for the cenotaph and veterans as a whole,” said Maynard.
The additions were unveiled Monday afternoon, and they represent ‘The Battle at McGregor Mill’, and ‘The History of the Chatham Cenotaph’.
Maynard noted that the cenotaph is located on a battlefield, which is rare.
“A lot of people don't realize that there's still a lot of loss even in modern-day service,” said Maynard. “We got to educate the public because it's not taught in schools anymore, and I was out distributing poppies, and the young people, they had no clue what the hell I was doing and what it meant.”
‘The Battle at McGregor Mills’ focuses on the two and a half hour battle in which Tecumseh was wounded.
“This is where they held off the Americans for the British to withdraw to York, which is now Toronto,” Maynard explained. “A couple days later, at the battle on the Thames, that's where the company was killed, but this action, it was the Canadian militia in the First Nations type indigenous troops lined up along King Street holding them off.”
The second plaque unveiled focuses on the history of the Cenotaph and how the community raised funds to build the monument.
According to Maynard, the Mayor has been the driving force behind the initiative.
“He engaged me to do some of the research and assist on how it should be laid out. The mayor, he's been phenomenal with us,” said Maynard.
There will be three more plaques going up within the next year.
