Crowds filled downtown New Westminster Saturday to watch the unveiling of the Wait for Me Daddy war memorial.
About 2,000 people crowded into the area around Hyack Square for the unveiling of a monument based on the photograph taken by Province newspaper photographer Claude Dettloff on Oct. 1, 1940.
Many of those attending the ceremony wiped tears from their eyes as the war memorial by Edwin and Veronica Dam de Nogales was unveiled.
“It is fantastic. It really is an amazing moment in time – the boy was doing the right thing, the father and the mother were doing the right thing, the photographer was doing the right thing. It speaks to generations,” said New Westminster resident Cathy Magee who attended the event with her mother Elsie Fleming. “What it said to me when I was thinking about it was Wait for Me Daddycould have been my dad in that lineup. It’s sort of like Wait for Me Daddy is for everybody.”
Fleming said the image is relevant today, noting there is a threat of a new war. While she was happy to attend the unveiling, Fleming said she’d return to the monument again in the future.
Saturday’s ceremony was filled with pomp and circumstance, including a procession of the British Columbia Regiment and the Royal Westminster Regiment and an inspection of the guard by Gov.-Gen. Judith Guichon and other dignitaries.
Guichon said it’s appropriate that the unveiling of the iconic war memorial is taking place 100 years after the start of the First World War and called it a tribute to those British Columbians who marched off so bravely to fight in the Second World War. She said the monument transforms the historic Hyack Square into a vital living museum.
“It is a permanent part of our history,” she said.
As much as this statute is a tribute to the past and that very special moment that was frozen in time, Guichon said it’s also an important testament to the future and reminds people of price that was paid for peace.
Kerry-Lynn Findlay, the federal minister of revenue, said the unveiling of the monument is a national occasion because the Wait for Me Daddy photograph is a part of the Canadian experience. She said it shows the important place New Westminster holds in Canada’s story about its participation in the Second World War.
Findlay said the federal government was proud to contribute funding to the creation of the monument so people can visit, draw inspiration and pay tribute to the brave men and women and families of that generation and the sacrifices they made during the Second World War. She said projects like this also help Canadians to understand Canada’s history.
Findlay said the Wait For Me Daddy photograph captured the tender last reach of a boy for a father’s hand, just before he went off to war. Last year, she was on hand to welcome home HMCS Regina after an eight-month deployment.
“As we waited for the ship to come in, there was a little girl wearing a T-Shirt that read, I’ve been waiting 254 days to hug my dad. Like that girl’s father, Whitey Bernard’s father did return, but many did not,” she said. “The photo expresses the emotions millions have felt in similar circumstances. That is why it resonates so deeply every time you see it.”
This year marks the 100th anniversary of beginning of the First World War and 75th anniversary of start of Second World War.
Candace MacPherson said her family was delighted to be part of the unveiling of a monument based on a photo taken by her grandfather Claude Dettloff. As a long line of men started marching down the hill, he could see a second line of wives, children and sweethearts and he felt something of a sentimental nature was bound to happen and was watching for it, when a little boy reached out to his dad and called, “Wait for me, Daddy.”
“When asked if he had taken any other shots of the departure that day, he replied, not a single one,” she said. “That was it.”
Whitey Bernard – the boy in the photograph – unveiled the statue that depicts him and his parents 74 years ago.
“The photo speaks for itself. A moment in time, captured forever,” he said of the image that’s featured in the war museum in Ottawa and has appeared in magazines, newspapers, posters and book covers.
Bernard said it was emotional to view the monument, as it was based on the last record of him and his parents, as their marriage didn’t survive the war years.
About 2,000 people attended the unveiling of the Wait for Me Daddy war memorial, while others watched the proceedings live on the city and CBC’s websites. Canada Post unveiled a new Wait for Me Daddy stamp and the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a new toonie.
Lineups to buy stamps and exchange toonies for new Wait for Me Daddy toonies were more than two hours long, stretching from Columbia Street, up Eighth Street and onto Carnarvon Street.
A New Westminster man, who declined to give his name, said he attended the ceremony because of the historical significance of the day.
“It’s very seldom that New Westminster ever gets mentioned in anything Canadian,” he said. “Now we have a postage stamp, a toonie and a monument – and coast to coast coverage.”
New Westminster native Laura McDonald thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony.
“I think it’s wonderful. I was born and raised in New Westminster, and my dad was overseas,” McDonald. “We always keep a picture at home of Wait for Me Daddy It reminds us of the sacrifices they made when they went over there.”
