St. John's, Newfoundland, May 29, 2014

 

Lovely St John’s, the site of monuments to the Royal Newfoundland 

Regiment that fought so bravely in WWI, the setting for THE GUNNER. 

The oil boom has produced colourful streets everywhere.

The historian of the RNR, Frank Gogos, 

and Prof. ex-Dean Graham Skanes and gave me a guided tour.

Bowring Park with its tumbling Waterford River
is certainly the most attractive setting…

 ...for the statue of the Caribou…

 ...made from the same cast as the monument in Beaumont Hamel 

where, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, some 

800 RNR soldiers went over the top, and fewer than 1 in 10 answered 

roll call the next morning.

The Caribou is the regimental badge.

    

This stunning park was designed by RHK Cochius 

and donated by Mr. Bowring, an St. John’s merchant.

 The “Fighting Newfoundander” is proudly remembered.