A diorama of a motor battalion in The Royal Westminster Regiment Museum aims to give visitors a sense of the awesome power of the Westies.
The museum, located in the Armoury at 530 Queens Ave., is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2013. Staffed by knowledgeable volunteers - including veterans who served abroad with The Royal Westminster Regiment - the museum is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment on other days.
Walter Tyler, who was born and raised in New Westminster, is one of the founders of the museum. Now 93, he still volunteers at the museum - and knows many of the soldiers whose faces are in photos and whose names are on medals in the collection.
"He's a fountain of knowledge," said Terry Leith, president of the Royal Westminster Regiment Association and the Royal Westminster Regiment Historical Society. "He remembers way back when. He helps out tremendously."
In addition to the displays, visitors to the museum will have access to a wealth of information and memories provided by museum curator Tom Lam, Tyler, Leith, retired Gen. Herb Hamm and other museum volunteers.
"When we have groups in from the schools, Walter is in there," Leith said. "If the school asks us to open, we go by their time. We will open on special occasions."
While the museum attracts visitors, volunteers would like to have even more people drop by and view the collections.
"It's kind of interesting," Tyler said. "It's not only the history of the regiment, it's part of the history of British Columbia."
The museum is home to exhibits, including photographs, medals, a memorial case paying tribute to fallen soldiers and a diorama of The Royal Westminster Regiment's motor battalion during the Second World War.
"This is what our motor battalions looked like in World War Two," said Tyler, pointing to a diorama. "We stretched out over 12 miles."
The museum, which officially opened on April 15, 1973, is the first regimental museum in Canada to be recognized as an official military museum. In its early days, the museum's collection was featured in two cases.
Nowadays, Leith said the museum has more artifacts than it can display in its current space. Some display cases are now being placed along walls inside the Armoury's drill hall.
"Some of the stuff we have here, you can't put a value on it," Leith said.
The museum's collection includes a replica of Jack Mahony's Victoria Cross medal from the Second World War.
For more information about the museum, call 604-526-5116.
