Major John Weir Foote, V.C. on left with Major Reverend Stewart B. Fast, O.B.E., M.C. on right. This is the first post war memorial to Dieppe. August 19, 1946 Photo: Hamilton Public Library, Local History and Archives
Major John Weir Foote, V.C. on left with Major Reverend Stewart B. Fast, O.B.E., M.C. on right. This is the first post war memorial to Dieppe.
August 19, 1946
Photo: Hamilton Public Library, Local History and Archives

On Sunday, Nov. 8, a  garrison parade assembles at the John Weir Foote Armoury, takes a turn onto James Street North before heading five blocks to Gore Park. It’s a short march for a soldier, but a giant glimpse into the military history of the city.

The armoury is where most of Hamilton’s reservists train. And the Cenotaph is where we remember ones who never came home.

The John Weir Foote Armoury on James Street North is a giant fortress of local military history that most people in Hamilton only know from the outside.

RHLI officers dining room at James Street Armoury. Photo: Gary Yokoyama, The Hamilton Spectator.

See Flashbacks: The armoury

Gore Park has been the ceremonial centre of military life in Hamilton for generations. But after more than a century of parades, Remembrance Day ceremonies and sombre reflections, the park is set to enter a new phase as a kind of military history park known as Veterans’ Place.

Veteran's Place and the Cenotaph at Gore Park. Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator
Veteran’s Place and the Cenotaph at Gore Park. Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator

See Flashbacks: Cenotaph 

See more Hamilton military history photos

For more local history, tune in to Cable 14 for the show Flashbacks,  co-hosted by Spectator reporter Mark McNeil and library archivist Margaret Houghton.

The first program airs Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. It is also available to cable subscribers and Rogers customers through Cable 14’s video on demand service at cable14now.com