An iconic image from the Second World War is being immortalized in more ways than one.
As soldiers marched down Eighth Street on Oct. 1, 1940, Provincenewspaper photographer Claude P. Dettloff snapped a shot of a young boy who broke away from his mother and reached out to his father as he passed by – a photo that’s known around the world as Wait For Me Daddy. The City of New Westminster will unveil a monument based on the photo on Saturday in Hyack Square – the very place the British Columbia Regiment marched through that day to catch a waiting ferry to take them to a training destination.
“I’m positive the reaction is going to be one of surprise, of awe and of wow,” Mayor Wayne Wright told The Record.“It’s that different.”
Since its arrival in Hyack Square on Tuesday, the monument has been shrouded in preparation for the weekend’s big reveal. At the event, Canada Post is unveiling a stamp and the Royal Canadian Mint is releasing a $2 coin, both based on the image captured in New Westminster 74 years ago.
Whitey Bernard – the little boy in the photograph – will be on hand to unveil the monument.
The City of New Westminster selected internationally acclaimed artists Veronica and Edwin Dam de Nogales over 15 other artists to create the memorial. The juried process was overseen by the mayor’s Wait For Me Daddytask force.
“In the two years since we began this, our approach was to create a piece, which will act as a beacon to bridge the past with the future. Our hope is that viewers appreciate the subtle echoings of the architecture of the new Anvil Centre in its geometric form within an image captured from the past,” stated the artists in a press release. “We are thrilled with the outcome, we hope everyone else will be too.”
The Wait For Me Daddymonument, stamp and coin have put New Westminster on the national stage, with special guests at Saturday’s ceremony to include veterans, presidents of Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mint, a representative of the defence department in the Netherlands, federal and provincial representatives and Dettloff’s grandchildren.
Because of protocols surrounding the unveiling of a war memorial, it’s expected the ceremony will last about an hour. The city suggests people bring folding chairs, as it may be a long time to stand.
In addition to being shown on a big screen at the site, the ceremony will also be live-streamed through the city’s website (www.newwestcity.ca) and CBC (www.cbc.ca/bc).
Sales of the new Wait For Me Daddy stamp and coin will begin at noon. A variety of activities are taking place at Anvil Centre from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., including the opening of the Wait For Me Daddy museum exhibit, an art exhibition, a vintage car display and a toonie exchange (bring an old toonie and get a new Wait For Me Daddy toonie.)
The celebration resumes in the evening, when the New Westminster Police Department lights the Wait For Me Daddy war memorial for the first time at 7:30 p.m.
