Aurora invites residents to help design Korean War Memorial

War Memorial Peace Park currently pays tribute to veterans of First World War, Second World War and war in Afghanistan

Yorkregion.com
May 7, 2021

Five months after resident Bill Newman and Aurora Legion president Lori Hoyes secured council’s support to honour veterans of the Korean War, the town is asking the community to help design a tribute at the War Memorial Peace Park.

Residents can submit design ideas for a monument to honour soldiers from Aurora, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville who fought in war.

Currently, Aurora’s War Memorial Peace Park pays tribute to those from Aurora, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville who served and were lost in the two world wars and the war in Afghanistan. There is no similar recognition of the Korean War.

In what has been called the Forgotten War, the Korean War claimed almost five million lives, including 516 Canadians.

“I think that deserves to be recognized. It was a real bitter war. And we never hear about it,” Newman told The Banner.

“It is a significant moment and people did volunteer to serve their country, to fight the new enemy, as it were at the time, of communism,” he said.

Newman discovered 20 men from Aurora, Newmarket, Oak Ridges and King Township served in the war, including 11 from Aurora specifically.

None were killed, though two were wounded.

Hoyes said a memorial would show Aurora remembers, honours, and respects veterans of the war.

The winning design will be submitted as part of a grant application to Veterans Affairs Canada to cover some of the costs.

The design call-out is open to any resident of Aurora, King or Whitchurch-Stouffville.

The town is looking for concept drawings that can be as simple as a pencil sketch to provide the inspiration and general idea for a memorial, rather than formal final design drawings and specifications.

The memorial should not contain any names of soldiers who fought in the war and must be in both English and French.

Designs must be submitted by email by May 28 to swhite@aurora.ca.