The Sandwick Cairn is a stone sentinel that has stood vigil at the north exit of Courtenay, near St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, for over a century.
It was built in 1921 by residents of the Comox Valley as a permanent place to commemorate the deaths of their fathers, uncles, and brothers during World War I. It was built with stones from the homes and farms the 41 men had left when they went to war.
Choosing a site
The site of this memorial cairn was carefully chosen—high enough to be easily seen by travellers coming up the Courtenay River and those passing by on the Island Highway. The land was donated by Mrs. Barbara Dingwall, daughter of Oliver Duncan, who was one of the first settlers in the Valley.
Following Mr. S.H. Hopkins’ design, a small group of men excavated a 12’x12’ square, then filled the hole with medium-sized boulders collected from area fields for the cairn’s base.
On Armistice Day, November 7, 1921*, men began arriving early in the morning with wagonloads of stones. The Vancouver Daily Province noted: “While some wagons were hauling rocks, others were at the river loading sand to make the concrete with which the stones are cemented together and the whole of the district turned out to load and unload the wagons and pile up the stones.”
Taking shape
By noon, under the supervision of stonemasons Jock Thompson and Andrew Smith, the cairn began to take shape. There was excitement in the community; people began assembling long before the scheduled ceremony at 2 p.m. There was hardly a person present who didn’t have a relation or friend who had not returned from the war.
Mrs. Alexander Beaton was selected to lay the cornerstone. Her sons Malcolm and John had been killed overseas, and another son, Angus, had returned as an amputee. She was presented with an engraved silver trowel to commemorate the event; Mayor Simms said it gave him “melancholy pleasure to hand the trowel to Mrs. Beaton.”
Unveiling the plaque
A year later, on Armistice Day 1922, a parade of 150 veterans assembled at the Great War Veterans’ Hall (approximate location of the present Courtenay Legion) and marched down Union Street (5th Street). Colonel Warden, DSO, commander of the 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion based at Goose Spit, led the parade, along with four men in that battalion’s uniform. They marched, four abreast, across the Courtenay Bridge and up the hill to the monument, where the Union Jack was flying.
During a brief ceremony, Colonel Warden unveiled the plaque with the names of the “Noble 41.” Additional plaques have since been added to the Sandwick Cairn listing the casualties of World War II, the Korean War, and other United Nations conflicts.
When I was growing up, veterans formed a parade on Cliffe Avenue in front of the Native Sons Hall. Cadets from the three services marched behind the veterans while the Legion pipe band led the parade. Rain or shine, this solemn procession made its pilgrimage every Remembrance Day to the foot of Mission Hill and Sandwick Cairn.
The cenotaph guards were always veterans, usually one from each branch of the service. Many times, my father was on one of the corners, head bowed, rifle reversed and motionless for the duration of the ceremony. He was a former member of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) based in Victoria. Their parade uniform—a glengarry [a brimless Scottish cap], kilt, and tunic complete with medals—was not the warmest on a typical November day in the Comox Valley. Prior to my father’s passing in 2017, he confided in me that those on “guard duty” would await the arrival of the parade in a garage or woodshed on Dingwall Road, passing around a bottle of cheer to warm them up.
Courtenay’s first Municipal Heritage site
In 1985, the Sandwick Cairn was named Courtenay’s first Municipal Heritage site. Pay a visit to connect with the city’s early settler history—and to commemorate those Valley citizens who went to war and never came home.
*November 11 was not formally adopted as Remembrance Day until March 1931.
