Legion disturbed over disappearance of cenotaph plaque

The Cenotaph in Victoria Park is missing a piece that has been there for decades.

Regina police are investigating the disappearance of the plaque that honours members of the Royal Canadian Air Force; the plaque was on the ledge leading up to the centrepiece.

Ron Hitchcock, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 001, said he noticed the plaque was missing Thursday morning after meeting with the company that’s installing two new plaques on the Cenotaph.

“It’s very disturbing because we’re adding two new ones to make the foursome of the veterans groups — which is the navy, the army, the air force and the RCMP — and now we’re short one,” Hitchcock said.

“Obviously it’s someone that has got no regard for the sacrifice made by men and women to provide us with the freedom that we enjoy today and (the perpetrators) should certainly be losing their freedom once they’re caught.”

The Cenotaph has stood in Victoria Park since 1926 and was meant to honour those killed in the First World War. A rededication was held in 1990 to honour people who served in the Second World War and the Korean War, and another ceremony in 2018 honoured Canadians who fought in the Boer War and the war in Afghanistan.

Hitchcock said it’s not the first time the Cenotaph has been vandalized in some way.

“In the past, we’ve had somebody spray-paint (graffiti),” he said, “but nobody has pried a plaque off the wall, so not that kind of destruction or theft.”

In order to get the plaque free, Hitchcock said someone would need to pry it off using a crowbar, probably breaking the plaque in the process.

If the plaque is not returned, the legion would replace it with a new one. The legion also would consider putting some kind of guarding over the plaques, which isn’t something the legion wants to do.

“That might take away from the look of the plaque,” Hitchcock said.

Hitchcock asks anyone with information about the plaque’s disappearance to contact police or return it to the legion.