All Sappers Memorial is dedicated to the war dead of the Royal Canadian Engineers during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.
ALL SAPPERS CENOTAPH AN IDEA WAS BORN
Lt Col C.N. Mitchell VC; MC; Officer Commanding A6 Canadian Engineer Training Centre was inspired by the idea of creating a monument to All Sappers of the British Empire. It would be designed and crafted by Sappers. He directed Major Williams to design the Cenotaph, and Major Davies to select a site and prepare a memorial park. Meanwhile, Major N.B. Gillies, a geologist, was to select the site from which a suitable piece of rock could be quarried in one piece. Transporting the piece was designated to Major T. A. V. Tremblay, OC of the Bridging Wing, and for setting out the quarrying camp. In the New Year of 1945, Maj Williams presented his first design. It was to be a twelve-sided shaft set on a square base, with a grenade at each of the four corners. Three steps would take you up to the Cenotaph. The overall height of the monument was 16 feet, 6 inches and the base, 4 feet, 10 inches square. On the 24th of January, an expedition of Lt Col Mitchell, Maj Gillies and several others, located and decided on the quarry site, the face of a cliff on Harrison Lake, approximately 22 miles from the site selected for the Cenotaph.
QUARRYING
The rock chosen was Monzonite, an aggregate of plagioclase feldspar and hornblende, resembling granite. Within a few hours of their return to camp, an order was issued for "Operation Granite." Quarrying Camp was set up the next day. Lt T.H.E. Copps, an experienced miner and prospector started the quarrying. By the end of March, the most difficult task of quarrying was completed. It is said that the weather was such, that the quarryman's words could not be used in print.
MOVING THE STONE
The stone was a mere 42 Tons and had to be moved to the Park area for final cutting and shaping. It was decided to bring the massive block on a Bailey Pontoon raft to Cannor Bay, a point on the Fraser near Chilliwack, and then by low-loader to its destination. Under the direction of QMS Ozmun, an obsolete Valentine Tank was converted into a low-loader. The Bridging Wing constructed a five pontoon Bailey raft while loading ramps were built at the quarry site and Cannor Bay with Lt D.R. Young in charge. On the morning of 16 May 1945, with Major Tremblay in charge, the massive stone made its way down the Harrison and Fraser Rivers. A heavy rain was falling. Normally, Engineers revel when gravel is found, not so in this case. Within just a few miles of the offloading point, the raft ran aground on a gravel bar in midstream. All efforts to free the raft failed. Mooring it for the night, Major Tremblay reported to Lt Col Mitchell. Mitchell and Maj Davies sought out a very powerful tug, and with Davies on board, the tug came to the rescue. In freeing the raft, it nearly swamped. Upon arriving at the offloading point, they found that most pontoons were half-full of water.
CUTTING THE STONE
Once unloaded in the centre of the Memorial Park on the 18th of May 1945, the cutting process began. Experienced stone masons, S/Sgt Crowe, Cpl Bloomfield, Cpl Thatcher and Sapper Forster comprised the expertise that would cut and shape the raw material into the final shape. The design was twice changed due to faults in the stone. It went from a twelve to an eight-sided shaft, and finally because of further faults, to the shape you now see. The base was considerably reduced, but the height did not change. These men worked in all weather until early the next year. They were very proud of their work. By the end of Feb 1946, the steps were in place, the base stone and capstone completed, and the main shaft was approaching the final phase. There still remained the fashioning of the swords and grenades, the lettering and the all-important task of raising the main shaft into position. On the 13th of April, the main shaft was ready to be raised into position. A diamond drill hole was made through the length of the stone. Through this hole, a steel rod with an eye was threaded, secured by two steel nuts at the bottom of the shaft. The stone, in a horizontal position, was then moved on rollers up a ramp to a platform built around the base stone. Over the platform were sheer-legs tackled with a fifteen -five degrees by jacks and from there on was brought up to perpendicular by the block and tackle. A movie camera recorded the happenings of that tense Saturday morning.
LANDSCAPING
Mr. Booth, a well-known landscape gardener of New Westminster, and father of one of our Sappers, not only gave trees and shrubs but devoted much time to landscaping.
CONCLUSION
By the time of unveiling, a long- time dream of Lt Col Mitchell's came to pass. Chilliwack was named the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering and him, its Officer Commanding.
From: The CFB Chilliwack Historical Society
Inscription
IN THE MEMORY OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN ENGINEERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR 1939 - 1945 . . IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE . . TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE CANADIAN MILITARY ENGINEERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR 1914- 1918 . . KOREA / CORÉE 1950 – 1953