Legion pulls out a big gun!Boschoff helps secure memorial howitzer

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Nearly two years of efforts finally paid off for the Royal Canadian Legion Br. 54 in Rainy River Friday morning.
A C1 Howitzer, 105 mm (25 lbs. shell) General artillery gun arrived at the club. It has been decommissioned and will be permanently on display next to the cenotaph in memory of veterans who fought in wars over the past century defending freedom.
It all began nearly two years ago when Legion Executive Member Lance Lindal and President Gerry Marchuk began inquiring about getting a decommed tank. When they discovered that was not possible Marchuk said they asked about a machine gun and again were not able to make that happen.
Enlisting the help of local federal Member of Parliament Ken Boshcoff, they were able to get approval for the Howitzer. Marchuk gave both Lindal and Boshcoff a great deal of credit. “It was their persistence that made this happen.”
Once they were approved for the gun, it had to be sent from its base in Montreal to the USA to be decommissioned. That meant a 6-8 month turnaround.
Once that was completed it was shipped to Kenora by the Camlin Group. Edwards Construction of Kenora unloaded it and stored it until the local legion could figure how to get it the rest of the way. That happened last week when Stratton Equipment travelled to Red Lake on a delivery and picked the gun up on the way back. It arrived bright and early Friday morning.
Plans are now in the works to have a cement pad poured and a permanent mount to lift the gun off the ground. They hope to have it in place before Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) this year so that it can be officially dedicated in this the 80th birthday of the Rainy River Legion.