07/02/2026
Last Sunday, our service began with O Canada, and I played Ode to Newfoundland during the Musical Moment. In 2000, I was on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier parade as a member of the Central Band of the Canadian Forces.
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Did you know Canada has two places that carry the name National War Memorial?
Most Canadians know the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Officially unveiled by King George VI on May 21, 1939, it stands in the heart of the capital as Canada’s national place of remembrance. Known as The Response, it honours the service and sacrifice of Canadians who answered the call in war, conflict, peacekeeping, and service to the country.
In 2000, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added at the foot of the Ottawa memorial. The unknown Canadian soldier was repatriated from a war cemetery near Vimy Ridge, France, and now represents all Canadian service members who died with no known grave.
But there is another National War Memorial in Canada, and it is in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Newfoundland National War Memorial was unveiled on July 1, 1924, fifteen years before the Ottawa memorial. At the time, Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada. It was still a separate Dominion of the British Empire, honouring its own fallen from the First World War and later conflicts.
That makes the memorial in St. John’s deeply unique. It is not simply a provincial memorial. It was built as the national memorial of a country that later joined Canada.
On July 1, 2024, exactly 100 years after the memorial was unveiled, Newfoundland and Labrador laid to rest its own Unknown Soldier. The remains of an unknown Newfoundland First World War soldier were repatriated from the battlefields of northern France and entombed at the Newfoundland National War Memorial.
He represents Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from all branches of service who died in conflict, especially those who have no known grave.
That means Canada now has two Tombs of the Unknown Soldier: one in Ottawa for Canada, and one in St. John’s for Newfoundland and Labrador.
That is remarkable.
It also speaks to Newfoundland’s unique place in Canadian military history. July 1 is Canada Day across the country, but in Newfoundland and Labrador it is also Memorial Day, forever tied to Beaumont-Hamel and the terrible losses suffered by the Newfoundland Regiment on July 1, 1916.
Two national memorials. Two unknown soldiers. One country. And a powerful reminder that Newfoundland’s road into Canada carried its own history, its own sacrifice, and its own sacred places of remembrance.
