'We need to honour them': Walking tour of South Walkerville street signs to reflect on First World War battles and veterans

A guided walking tour of South Walkerville in Windsor this weekend is commemorating the First World War, by reflecting on the street names that are memorialized after battles where many local fallen soldiers gave their greatest sacrifice.

The South Walkerville Great War Street Sign Walking Tour on Saturday is being led by Museum Windsor as part of the city’s program for Remembrance Day 2022.

“Our strong ties to World War One and our soldiers killed in action and our veterans, it's just, it's so deep,” said museum assistant Walter Petrichyn. “And these stories mean so much.”

Petrichyn listed avenues like Vimy, Alsace, Loraine, Ypres, Sommes and Amiens as some of the local roads named after First World War battlefields or important figures.

“Some of these folks were 16, 17, 18 when they lost their lives in these battles,” Petrichyn said. “So it just breaks my heart when I read these stories about how much life some of these soldiers had.”

Petrichyn explained the tour will highlight those battles and local veteran stories.

“They really didn't think what they were going into was going to be as severe as we all know, today,” he said. “So this one's different in terms of, there's not really any heritage buildings to point and look at. They're all really solidified in the street names.”

The tour will begin at the First World War monument at Optimist Memorial Park.

“Across Canada there was a push in municipalities to recognize Canada's participation in the First World War,” said South Walkerville resident Melinda Munroe who led a walking tour in the area for Jane’s Walk in 2019. “Tanks were invented in the First World War. Gas was part of the First World War. Barbed wire was part of the First World War. These things look like they're ancient history to us, but they were enormous innovations, if you will, in the violence that marked the First World War”

“It’s a great opportunity to get outdoors to see an older neighbourhood, to talk about the different battles and I think at the same time as you’re reflecting on the violence or the horror or something like Passchendaele or Ypres, you're also then reflecting on what it's like to live in a country that's truly free.”

Munroe continued, “Notwithstanding some of the debates we're hearing going on today about whether we're free or not free. We're a country that's enormously free and the benefit of that is we have neighborhoods like this that are open, people can walk around, they can look at each other's houses, and then they can go down to the gates at Memorial Optimist Park and reflect on the names that are that are listed there and people who fell in order to protect that freedom.”

The tour takes place on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission cost $5.50 per person. Advanced ticket purchase is required.

For more details, contact Museum Windsor at 519-253-1812, or visit MuseumWindsor.ca.