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Cost of WWII memorial doubles

Organizer frustrated by Ottawa's demands

By: Mia Rabson

Posted: 07/7/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA -- In just over a month, the first Canadian ground units to see combat in the Second World War will finally have a national monument to mark their service.But demands by the federal government for the design of the memorial wall for the Battle of Hong Kong to be more interesting more than doubled the cost just as construction is set to begin.

The Hong Kong Veterans' Commemorative Association, mainly made up of the children and grandchildren of soldiers who fought for Canada in Hong Kong in December 1941, has been working for more than five years on getting a national monument.

Their original plan was for a 12-foot granite wall inscribed with the names of the units and all the Canadians who participated in the battle in 1941 -- 1,975 men, two women and one dog.

The association raised the $150,000 needed to build it, mainly through private donations. Last summer they secured a prominent location in Ottawa for the wall, along Sussex Drive, midway between the Parliament Buildings and the prime minister's residence.

But in December the association was informed the design wasn't good enough for the National Capital Commission, the crown corporation that oversees government land and structures in the Ottawa area.

"They said it wasn't artistic enough, or innovative enough," said Carol Hadley, chair of the committee working on the wall. "It didn't fit with their concept for Ottawa."

The NCC and the association went back to the drawing board and the new concept is for a 20-foot concrete wall inspired by the mountains in Hong Kong where the soldiers fought.

Despite replacing the granite wall with a less costly concrete wall with a granite facade, the new bill will be $300,000, twice what the association has raised. A request for help from government was denied, so the association has sent a plea to its members to try to get the word out.

Hadley said she is frustrated by the money problems and admitted they are cutting into the joy she hoped she might feel once construction finally started on the wall.

"I have very mixed emotions," she said.

The plan still is to have a ceremony unveiling the new monument Aug. 15. The concrete will start being poured this week, said Hadley, and the engravings on the granite need to start before the end of the week if it will be ready in time.

Hadley said she's trying not to worry too much about the money and is staying "150 per cent focused on getting this wall done."

Hadley's father, Lance-Cpl. Borge Agerbak, and two of her uncles, Pte. Knud Agerbak and Cpl. Tage Agerbak, fought with the Winnipeg Grenadiers in Hong Kong. The Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, along with a number of smaller units making up Brigade Headquarters, were the first Canadian soldiers to see ground combat in the Second World War. The Battle of Hong Kong, which lasted 17 1/2 days in December 1941, resulted in Canada's first war death and first soldiers taken prisoner.

In all 290 soldiers died in combat, 493 were wounded and almost all the rest taken prisoner when the allies surrendered on Christmas Day.

The prisoners were held in filthy compounds in Japan and were forced to work long hours in mines or on the docks. Over 260 died in prison before being rescued at the end of the war in 1945.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 7, 2009 A5

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