Andrew Oakden
Stag Special

The RCA Museum is responsible for three monuments at Canoe River Memorial Park, with the artifacts on our registry.
We also have signage at the park — located in the middle of the Base and open to the public year-round — for each artifact for those stopping to take photographs or explore what’s on display.
In the museum’s archives, we have references to the park dating back to the 1950s.
One of the more popular monuments when tourists stop at CANEX, and visit the park adjacent to the mall, is a German Leopard 1 Tank, produced from 1965 to 1979.
From 1973 to 2000, more than 140,000 German Army soldiers trained on this Base, with their tank in the RTA. Most years they sent approximately 4,000 soldiers for training and the monument recognizes this partnership after they ended the training relationship.
The oldest of the monuments features two 25-pounder guns — one is a non-converted 25-pounder without the muzzle brake, and the other has the muzzle break.
The two 25-pounders flanking the Canoe River Memorial cairn were presented to CFB Shilo in 1970 by the School of Artillery.
The plaque says: “In memory of the 17 soldiers of Second Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery who died en route from Camp Shilo, Manitoba to Fort Lewis, Washington in the tragic railway disaster at Canoe River, British Columbia on 12 November 1950.”
The most recent monument is a decked-out LAV III — light armoured personnel vehicle — used during operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 by the Canadian Army.
CFB Shilo added the LAV III, with the assistance of the RCA Museum, in 2018. It includes a plaque: “In recognition and memory of the efforts of approximately 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel who served and the 162 Canadians who died in the cause of bringing peace and freedom to the people of Afghanistan 2001 – 2014.”
These three monuments are certainly of historical significance to the history of Shilo. When visitors come for a museum visit, I recommend stopping at the park and checking out the monuments on display.