The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 34 is seeking financial support from the community for its new monument that will honour Stanley Peacock, the Orillia Fire Department, and the Fairmile Ships built in Orillia to help the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War.
On Sunday, June 23, members of the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Airforce, and other dignitaries will be invited to a special unveiling ceremony in Couchiching Beach Park behind the Legion where Hunter Boats was once located.
"It's an important historical event for Orillia," said Legion president Rick Purcell. "Just making boats during World War Two is a big event. But we also lost 16-year-old Stanley Peacock, and the fire department made a huge rescue."
He is referring to that fateful day in the fall of 1943 when Peacock, an apprentice electrician and air cadet, was killed when the wooden Fairmile exploded. If not for the heroics of what was known then as the Orillia Fire Brigade, the waterfront might have been lost, historians say.
Purcell says the story of the Fairmile Q116 and the explosion that almost claimed Orillia's waterfront "should be told for generations to come."
Designed by Signature Monuments and the Legion, the ship-shaped monument that will soon be installed in Veterans' Park features a photo of the Fairmile Q116, Peacock, and Orillia Fire Department Captain Robert Elgin Jones and Lieutenant Daniel MacLeish who were awarded the King's Police and Fire Service Medal Gallantry for their efforts in extinguishing one of Orillia's worst fires.
Rob McCron, the local legion's public relations officer, says the history of the Fairmile Q116 and Hunter Boats is important to Orillia.
"Hunter Boats was the first in Canada to build boats to patrol the east and west coast as well as the St. Lawrence River to spot German submarines that were coming to destroy the cargo ships being sent to Europe,' he explained. "The little city of Orillia is where these boats were made. It's a big deal."
Purcell says the monument will finally give Peacock, who was killed in the explosion while working on the Fairmile Q116, the recognition he deserves.
"Being a civilian, there is no recognition of his death," he explained. "Civilians were important to the war effort."
The monument is going to cost about $35,000. The Legion hopes the public will be able to fund $30,000 of that cost before it arrives later this spring.
"We have some pretty important people behind this," Purcell said, noting the Royal Canadian Air Force Association, the Peacock family, Mayor Don McIsaac, and Coun. Ralph Cipolla have all donated.
Purcell says the Legion would be happy to accept donations from individuals, businesses, or groups.
"We will promote their name if they donate," Purcell said. "We will probably have a plaque of some sort near the monument and a board out on the day of the ceremony to show who donated."
If you would like to donate, you can contact the Legion at 705-325-8442, or drop by the branch office at 215 Mississaga St. E. during business hours.
The Legion is also hoping to contact relatives of Jones and MacLeish.
"We'd love to have their family members at the opening service," Purcell said.
