North York’s large York Cemetery, at Beecroft Road, one block west of Yonge Street between Sheppard and Park Home Avenues near the North York Civic Centre, has a veterans’ section, rows of small stones dedicated to individual veterans. According to a group called the Friends of York Cemetery, there were 237 veterans interred there as of May 2024. All told, the 172-acre cemetery has more than 12,000 people interred.
The 45-foot-tall stone-shaft commemorative cenotaph near Beecroft was installed in 1963. There is a raised polished red granite Sword of Honour on the front and back and an inscription on each of the four sides.
[front]
DEDICATED TO
THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE SO BRAVELY WON BY
MEMBERS OF CANADA’ ARMED SERVICES WHO LOST
THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II,
KOREA, AND WHILE SERVING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS.
“LEST WE FORGET”
[right side]
TO THE GLORY OF GOD IN MEMORY
OF THOSE OF THE ARMED SERVICES
WHO LIE IN THIS HALLOWED GROUND
[back]
A WISE NATION PRESERVES ITS RECORDS – GATHERS UP
ITS MUNIMENTS – DECORATES THE TOMBS OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS
DEAD REPAIRS ITS GREAT PUBLIC STRUCTURES AND FOSTERS
NATIONAL PRIDE AND LOVE OF COUNTRY BY PERPETUAL
REFERENCE TO THE SACRIFICES AND GLORIES OF THE PAST.
[left side]
THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED
BY THE
CITIZENS REPATRIATION LEAGUE INC.
AND THE TRUSTEES OF THE TORONTO
GENERAL BURYING GROUNDS
AND WAS UNVEILED BY THE LORD BISHOP OF TORONTO
THE RIGHT REVEREND F.H. WILKINSON. M.M AND BARS, M.A.,D.D., L.L.D., D.C.L.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 20TH, 1963
Scattered throughout the grounds are various artillery pieces with small plaques, and also a Sherman tank dedicated to the Governor General’s Horse Guards.
Its marker says:
1939 – 1945
THIS IS A MEMORIAL TO THE
GOVERNOR GENERAL’S HORSE GUARDS
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN
WORLD WAR II
“THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT
GROW OLD:
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN.
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, AND IN THE MORNING
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.”
