Teacher war service marked
The names of 72 brethren of University of Western Ontario alumni and students who served in the First World War – some making the ultimate sacrifice - have come to rest in the Althouse Faculty of Education building.
During the Remembrance Day ceremony, the Western Alumni Association presented a plaque with the names of 19 fallen soldiers from the Great War to the university to be placed in Middlesex Memorial Tower.
But across campus, a lesser-known memorial of First World War veterans resides near the auditorium in Althouse.
Faculty of Education professor Allen Pearson was reminded of the plaque – The Honour Roll for Those from the London Normal School Who Served in the Great War and Those Who Died – upon hearing of the university’s latest acquisition.
The plaque originally hung in the London Normal School, which later became London Teachers’ College, on Elmwood Avenue. It lists the 68 men and 4 women who were graduates of the teachers’ college and served in the First World War. The plaque also includes the names of the nine people who died during the war.
After the teachers’ college was integrated into Western and relocated to Althouse in the early 1970s, the memorial was also moved.“While none of these would be Western grads, their legacy is marked on campus,” says Pearson.
