strongfield cenotaph
The Strongfield Cenotaph
Shortly after the Second World War ended, William Lett and Gordon MacPherson started talking about building a memorial to honor those from Strongfield who had died in the two world wars.
Both men belonged to the Jubilee Branch #95 of the Royal Canadian Legion that was composed of veterans from Hawarden, Glenside and Strongfield. They both served in World War I and had sons that served in World War II.
Sometime in 1946, a meeting was held in the old hall which was one block north of Clark’s (Snustead) garage. Helen Langager remembers that the hall was full and Melvin Olson was the chairperson. A committee was formed and called “The Strongfield War Services Association”. William Lett became the chairperson and a decision was made to build a cenotaph on the southwest corner of the schoolgrounds. This information was obtained from Ed Langager and Bea Lett.
William Lett’s brother, Truman, had moved to Moose Jaw in 1929 and befriended a fellow named Fred Clarke, who was a welding instructor at the Moose Jaw Technical High School. Fred and his students had built two monuments, the “Man of Industry” (1939) and a statue of Winston Churchill (1941). These monuments still stand in the same place at the front entrance of the school, now called Peacock Technical High School.
Truman Lett’s daughter, Bea, later worked at that same school for 34 ½ years and knew Fred Clarke very well. She and Jean (MacPherson) Hiles gathered much of the information that we have – old snapshots, newspaper clippings, etc. They also had some very interesting stories to tell.
The man who modeled for the statue was another welding instructor at the same school. His name was Arthur Douglas. Bea says that Arthur had a large head and when he tried to put the helmet on, the strap wouldn’t go under his chin. Mr. Clarke and his students built the statue so accurately that they had the same problem when they tried to put the helmet on the soldier’s head! It is amazing to think that in 1947 this man and his students crafted a soldier out of steel with such detail, right down to the fingernails and shoelaces.
Norman Tastad recalled having a conversation with Wes MacPherson (Gordon’s son). Wes said he put his helmet on, got his gun and rested on it, with head bowed. A picture was probably taken and send to Fred.
Alvin Lett (William’s son), enrolled in this same school the fall of 1947. He took a welding course and his instructors were Fred Clarke and Arthur Douglas. He said they were both excellent welders and instructors. Later on, Alvin became a welding inspector and met Arthur Douglas again when they were both employed in the Kindersley area.
The steel soldier was finished before Alvin left for Moose Jaw. It was stored in Bea’s garage until Strongfield was ready for it.
Pete Tastad remembers working on the concrete part of the cenotaph. The base, or steps, were already done when he got there, and he says Joe McLean had already built the form for the top part of the concrete.
The top part of the forms were angled and didn’t seem quite right, so they lifted the form off the base and slid it in a truck. They had to drive to someone’s farm to find Joe who was working on another job. The form was modified, brought back to town and set up again.
Pete said a mixer was used to make the concrete, and as it was mixed, it was handed up to the top in pails and dumped in the form. Many rocks were thrown in to take up space. Pete remembers Stan Lees and Fred Taylor helping. Fred Taylor, the Sask. Wheat Pool agent, also stopped by to see how they were doing. Many more men probably helped that day, but we can only guess.
Sometime in July the statue was brought from Moose Jaw to Strongfield and placed on the concrete. Fred Clarke must have cut all the words and names out of steel and then welded all these plates that made the plaques for the four sides of the concrete pedestal.
Thanks to Gwen Follick, we have a copy of the program for the memorial and unveiling service of the Strongfield Cenotaph. It was held at 4 P.M. on August 3, 1947. August 3 at that time was called “Decoration Day”. Ed Langager remembers being at the service and watching Fred Veraas and Olai Haugen unveil the cenotaph. They had both lost sons (Audfin Veraas and Willard Haugen) in World War II. Norman Tastad remembers watching Olai Haugen after the unveiling, his head down and his foot kicking the dirt.
Bea Lett thinks Fred Clarke was probably at the service. He has since passed away, on Dec.31, 1985.
Included in this bit of history are some pictures that were copied and sent to us. You can see there was a parade, marching band and a large crowd.
Pete Tastad and Alvin Lett think that John Diefenbaker was there, too. Others however, feel that is was later than Mr. Diefenbaker visited Strongfield, maybe a later Decoration Day or perhaps the 1955 Jubilee celebration.
For many years the Remembrance Day services were held at the Strongfield Cenotaph.
In 1976 Ed Langager moved to Saskatoon and asked Ruth Bristow and Sylvia Langager to look after the Cenotaph fund. There was a small amount of money in the fund at the Bank of Commerce in Loreburn and Cenotaph fund was also on the list of charities for the Strongfield Donor’s Choice. Enough money kept coming in that Ruth and Sylvia were able to continue buying flowers that they planted around the cenotaph. They and other volunteers also pulled weeds and cut grass around the cenotaph.
In the 80’s George Moir was the secretary of the Jubilee Branch #95 of the Royal Canadian Legion. He said that only Hawarden and Strongfield veterans belonged to the branch at that time, and many of them had moved to Outlook or Saskatoon. Soon there weren’t enough left to hold meetings so George turned in all of the books and flags to the Loreburn-Elbow Legion.
By the late 80’s, the community realized that some work had to be done on the crumbling concrete of the cenotaph. Lori (Lorimer) Olson (Joel’s son), was a welder-machinist in Strongfield. He agreed to weld together a steel jacket for the top part of the pedestal. The four plates of steel and the words “In Memoriam” were unbolted and then cleaned by Owen Akre. I picked up paint in Saskatoon for the steel and concrete and US quart of gold paint for the lettering.
Once the steel plates had been painted a flat black and then dried, Owen lightly rolled the gold paint on the lettering. This gave the plaques a very impressive finish.
Daryl Jackson owned a paint sprayer and volunteered to paint the soldier with aluminum paint.
The steel jacket was placed over the top part of the pedestal and painted with a light grey rustproof paint. The same color was used in the concrete paint. Ruth and Bob Bristow used rollers to paint the steel and concrete.
When we bolted the steel plates back on the four sides of the concrete pedestal, the whole cenotaph looked as good as new.
Gwen Follick wrote a story about all this and sent it to the newspaper in Moose Jaw (a copy is included). The same story and pictures went to “The Outlook”. Both were published in November 1989.
Lori Olson was very reluctant but finally agreed to take $100 for his work and materials. The paint came to $84 and there was enough money to pay the bills. There was also enough paint left to do it all over again later on.
In 1995, $74.26 was transferred to a cenotaph account at the Loreburn Credit Union when the C.I.B.C. closed.
In the summer of 2000, the Village of Strongfield received a letter from “The Organization of Military Museums of Canada Inc.”. They requested information on Canadian war monuments for “A National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials”. This information will all be on the Internet.
Since Sylvia and I had helped with the work on the cenotaph in the 80’s and 90’s, we volunteered to fill out the forms and add some pictures and other information. We already had the information used in 1989, and a few calls helped to further expand the story.
Kim and Graeme Jeglum now live in the main part of the Strongfield School and have a welding-machinist shop in the east wing. They recently volunteered to paint the cenotaph again. They used the same paint that was used in 1989 and there is still paint left. An interesting note: Kim is Lori Olson’s daughter and Graeme is an excellent welder-machinist.
The Strongfield Cenotaph looks like new again, thanks to Kim and Graeme. There is still $80.94 in the Cenotaph Fund and many people in this community who are proud of this memorial will see that it is well cared for in the future. Lest We Forget.
Norm Langager
November 2000
*Norman passed in 2018. We thank him for his contributions to this community. He will always be remembered.
Shortly after the Second World War ended, William Lett and Gordon MacPherson started talking about building a memorial to honor those from Strongfield who had died in the two world wars.
Both men belonged to the Jubilee Branch #95 of the Royal Canadian Legion that was composed of veterans from Hawarden, Glenside and Strongfield. They both served in World War I and had sons that served in World War II.
Sometime in 1946, a meeting was held in the old hall which was one block north of Clark’s (Snustead) garage. Helen Langager remembers that the hall was full and Melvin Olson was the chairperson. A committee was formed and called “The Strongfield War Services Association”. William Lett became the chairperson and a decision was made to build a cenotaph on the southwest corner of the schoolgrounds. This information was obtained from Ed Langager and Bea Lett.
William Lett’s brother, Truman, had moved to Moose Jaw in 1929 and befriended a fellow named Fred Clarke, who was a welding instructor at the Moose Jaw Technical High School. Fred and his students had built two monuments, the “Man of Industry” (1939) and a statue of Winston Churchill (1941). These monuments still stand in the same place at the front entrance of the school, now called Peacock Technical High School.
Truman Lett’s daughter, Bea, later worked at that same school for 34 ½ years and knew Fred Clarke very well. She and Jean (MacPherson) Hiles gathered much of the information that we have – old snapshots, newspaper clippings, etc. They also had some very interesting stories to tell.
The man who modeled for the statue was another welding instructor at the same school. His name was Arthur Douglas. Bea says that Arthur had a large head and when he tried to put the helmet on, the strap wouldn’t go under his chin. Mr. Clarke and his students built the statue so accurately that they had the same problem when they tried to put the helmet on the soldier’s head! It is amazing to think that in 1947 this man and his students crafted a soldier out of steel with such detail, right down to the fingernails and shoelaces.
Norman Tastad recalled having a conversation with Wes MacPherson (Gordon’s son). Wes said he put his helmet on, got his gun and rested on it, with head bowed. A picture was probably taken and send to Fred.
Alvin Lett (William’s son), enrolled in this same school the fall of 1947. He took a welding course and his instructors were Fred Clarke and Arthur Douglas. He said they were both excellent welders and instructors. Later on, Alvin became a welding inspector and met Arthur Douglas again when they were both employed in the Kindersley area.
The steel soldier was finished before Alvin left for Moose Jaw. It was stored in Bea’s garage until Strongfield was ready for it.
Pete Tastad remembers working on the concrete part of the cenotaph. The base, or steps, were already done when he got there, and he says Joe McLean had already built the form for the top part of the concrete.
The top part of the forms were angled and didn’t seem quite right, so they lifted the form off the base and slid it in a truck. They had to drive to someone’s farm to find Joe who was working on another job. The form was modified, brought back to town and set up again.
Pete said a mixer was used to make the concrete, and as it was mixed, it was handed up to the top in pails and dumped in the form. Many rocks were thrown in to take up space. Pete remembers Stan Lees and Fred Taylor helping. Fred Taylor, the Sask. Wheat Pool agent, also stopped by to see how they were doing. Many more men probably helped that day, but we can only guess.
Sometime in July the statue was brought from Moose Jaw to Strongfield and placed on the concrete. Fred Clarke must have cut all the words and names out of steel and then welded all these plates that made the plaques for the four sides of the concrete pedestal.
Thanks to Gwen Follick, we have a copy of the program for the memorial and unveiling service of the Strongfield Cenotaph. It was held at 4 P.M. on August 3, 1947. August 3 at that time was called “Decoration Day”. Ed Langager remembers being at the service and watching Fred Veraas and Olai Haugen unveil the cenotaph. They had both lost sons (Audfin Veraas and Willard Haugen) in World War II. Norman Tastad remembers watching Olai Haugen after the unveiling, his head down and his foot kicking the dirt.
Bea Lett thinks Fred Clarke was probably at the service. He has since passed away, on Dec.31, 1985.
Included in this bit of history are some pictures that were copied and sent to us. You can see there was a parade, marching band and a large crowd.
Pete Tastad and Alvin Lett think that John Diefenbaker was there, too. Others however, feel that is was later than Mr. Diefenbaker visited Strongfield, maybe a later Decoration Day or perhaps the 1955 Jubilee celebration.
For many years the Remembrance Day services were held at the Strongfield Cenotaph.
In 1976 Ed Langager moved to Saskatoon and asked Ruth Bristow and Sylvia Langager to look after the Cenotaph fund. There was a small amount of money in the fund at the Bank of Commerce in Loreburn and Cenotaph fund was also on the list of charities for the Strongfield Donor’s Choice. Enough money kept coming in that Ruth and Sylvia were able to continue buying flowers that they planted around the cenotaph. They and other volunteers also pulled weeds and cut grass around the cenotaph.
In the 80’s George Moir was the secretary of the Jubilee Branch #95 of the Royal Canadian Legion. He said that only Hawarden and Strongfield veterans belonged to the branch at that time, and many of them had moved to Outlook or Saskatoon. Soon there weren’t enough left to hold meetings so George turned in all of the books and flags to the Loreburn-Elbow Legion.
By the late 80’s, the community realized that some work had to be done on the crumbling concrete of the cenotaph. Lori (Lorimer) Olson (Joel’s son), was a welder-machinist in Strongfield. He agreed to weld together a steel jacket for the top part of the pedestal. The four plates of steel and the words “In Memoriam” were unbolted and then cleaned by Owen Akre. I picked up paint in Saskatoon for the steel and concrete and US quart of gold paint for the lettering.
Once the steel plates had been painted a flat black and then dried, Owen lightly rolled the gold paint on the lettering. This gave the plaques a very impressive finish.
Daryl Jackson owned a paint sprayer and volunteered to paint the soldier with aluminum paint.
The steel jacket was placed over the top part of the pedestal and painted with a light grey rustproof paint. The same color was used in the concrete paint. Ruth and Bob Bristow used rollers to paint the steel and concrete.
When we bolted the steel plates back on the four sides of the concrete pedestal, the whole cenotaph looked as good as new.
Gwen Follick wrote a story about all this and sent it to the newspaper in Moose Jaw (a copy is included). The same story and pictures went to “The Outlook”. Both were published in November 1989.
Lori Olson was very reluctant but finally agreed to take $100 for his work and materials. The paint came to $84 and there was enough money to pay the bills. There was also enough paint left to do it all over again later on.
In 1995, $74.26 was transferred to a cenotaph account at the Loreburn Credit Union when the C.I.B.C. closed.
In the summer of 2000, the Village of Strongfield received a letter from “The Organization of Military Museums of Canada Inc.”. They requested information on Canadian war monuments for “A National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials”. This information will all be on the Internet.
Since Sylvia and I had helped with the work on the cenotaph in the 80’s and 90’s, we volunteered to fill out the forms and add some pictures and other information. We already had the information used in 1989, and a few calls helped to further expand the story.
Kim and Graeme Jeglum now live in the main part of the Strongfield School and have a welding-machinist shop in the east wing. They recently volunteered to paint the cenotaph again. They used the same paint that was used in 1989 and there is still paint left. An interesting note: Kim is Lori Olson’s daughter and Graeme is an excellent welder-machinist.
The Strongfield Cenotaph looks like new again, thanks to Kim and Graeme. There is still $80.94 in the Cenotaph Fund and many people in this community who are proud of this memorial will see that it is well cared for in the future. Lest We Forget.
Norm Langager
November 2000
*Norman passed in 2018. We thank him for his contributions to this community. He will always be remembered.
