Canadian Cross of Sacrifice Memorial
On this bike ride I went back across the Potomac River to one of my favorite area places to go for long walks, Arlington National Cemetery. And during that walk I visited the Canadian Cross of Sacrifice, which is located to the northwest of Memorial Amphitheater, across Memorial Drive (MAP).
I later learned that the memorial is comprised of the same Cross of Sacrifice which stands in every cemetery of the Commonwealth. This one commemorates the Americans who served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the First and the Second World War and the Korean War. At that surprised me the most. I didn’t know that U.S. citizens served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).
In 1925, Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King proposed a memorial to the U.S. citizens who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and lost their lives in World War I. More than 40,000 residents of the United States (including at least 35,000 U.S. citizens) enlisted in the CEF prior to U.S. entry into the war in April 1917. And thousands more served in the CEF in World War II and the Korean War.
The memorial’s original inscription reads: “Erected by the government of Canada in honour of the citizens of the United States who served in the Canadian Army and gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918.” Following World War II and the Korean War, similar inscriptions on other faces of the monument were added to honor Americans who served in the Canadian armed forces during those conflicts.
The DC Bike Blogger 