POLICE_WORLD_3_2016

Article

The caribou was chosen as the symbol for memorials to the Newfoundlanders, on the Western Front.

The Newfoundlanders & the Somme. Information and photographs from Graham Buxton Nottinghamshire Branch Newfoundland Memorial Park was purchased by the Dominion of Newfoundland after the First World War. It was named after the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which had provided one battalion of 800 men to serve with the British and Commonwealth Armies. Now part of Canada, Newfoundland was at the time a British colony, and the Regiment troops actually raised their own funds to get to France, where most of them died. Its tragic part in the action of 1st July 1916 is remembered through this memorial park. Newfoundland purchased this land in 1921, and first it and then the Canadian government (after 1949) have maintained it since as a memorial. It was officially opened in 1925, by Earl Haig. In 1997 it was designated a Canadian National Historic Site. The statue of the Caribou was chosen for the Memorial, as it was the symbol of the Newfoundland Regiment. There is a great deal to see within the park, including memorials and cemeteries as well as the preserved trench lines. There is also a visitor’s centre with information on the Newfoundlanders and also a shop and toilets.

POLICE WORLD Vol 61 No. 3, 2016

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