As the world marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War's end, a larger-than-life bronze sculpture by Western alumnus Wynn Walters has revived the memory of a Canadian war hero - and started a conversation about so much more.
Wynn Walters // Special to Western News
Western alumnus Wynn Walters, BA'59 (Journalism), sculpted a statue portraying Lt.-Col. Samuel Simpson Sharpe
unveiled this summer in Sharpe's hometown of Uxbridge, Ont.
"The resurrection of Sam Sharpe has been embraced wholeheartedly, by people within our community and by others further afield," explained Walters, BA'59 (Journalism), whose statue portraying Lt.-Col. Samuel Simpson Sharpe was unveiled this summer in Sharpe's hometown of Uxbridge, Ont. "We need to have these conversations about mental illness and mental trauma."
Sharpe was a celebrated soldier and sitting MP who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry.
When war broke out, he raised a battalion of men from around Durham Region and led them into a number of battles, including Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and Avion. The war took a terrible toll on his men's lives, as well as on Sharpe himself. Of the 1,145 men in the battalion, fewer than 10 per cent made it home alive.
Sharpe personally wrote a letter of condolence to each one of his men's families.
Despite his heroics, Sharpe's memory has been virtually erased from the history books after committing suicide at his Montreal hospital on May 25, 1918.
Click here to read the full story.
