Saving Vancouver’s Japanese Canadian War Memorial

By the Japanese Canadian War Memorial Committee

It is an iconic part of Stanley Park. But after over ninety years, the Japanese Canadian Cenotaph is in need of some special maintenance. The Japanese Canadian War Memorial Committee is raising the funds needed to ensure the cenotaph will continue to serve as a memorial to Japanese Canadians who served and died for their country.

Over 220 Japanese Canadian volunteers served in World War I. When Japanese volunteers from British Columbia were turned away in this province, many travelled to Alberta to enlist. There, they were welcomed by Alberta regiments and served with distinction on the Western Front. Fifty-four of them made the ultimate sacrifice and never made it home. It was for these men that the Canadian Japanese Association erected the monument on April 9, 1920.

The cenotaph itself is a work of art. The pillar is carved Haddington limestone. The base features carved granite petals embedded with names of the battles where Japanese veterans fought. And the marble and terracotta Japanese-style lantern atop the monument was lit until Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was re-lit in a ceremony by one of the last surviving World War I vets, Sergeant Masumi Mitsui in 1985.

During World War II, Japanese Canadians were declared enemy aliens and not accepted for enlistment. But toward the end of the war in 1945, 156 Japanese Canadians were recruited to serve as much-needed interpreters, interrogators and translators, and two lost their lives. Over a hundred were trained in the S-20 Canadian Army Language School Pacific Command in Vancouver to serve in military intelligence. When the Korean War broke out, Japanese Canadians again stepped up to serve Canada. Nineteen enlisted and one soldier lost his life. Some thirty former Japanese Canadians, deported to Japan in 1946, enlisted in Japan to fight for Canada and headed for Korea in 1950.

To mark the hundredth anniversary of World War I, the Japanese Canadian War Memorial Committee together with the Nikkei Place Foundation hopes to raise fifteen thousand dollars to restore the cenotaph, reproduce the Japanese Canadian Legion No. 9 flag and replace the plaque that dedicates the monument.

The committee continues to organize Remembrance Day ceremonies annually at the cenotaph and they hope British Columbians will help to preserve this important monument in honour of the sacrifices made on our behalf.

The “They Went to War Campaign” will run until September 2014, but donations will be welcome throughout the Great War anniversary years. Contributions can be made to the Nikkei Place Foundation for the “They Went to War Campaign.”

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