Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/162438
by the way Winston and the Welder by Byron Jenkins Back in the darkest hours of the Second World War, Moose Jaw welding teacher Fred Clarke built a statue of British prime minister Winston Churchill. Erected outside A.E. Peacock Collegiate in 1941, it was the first-ever monument of this legendary figure — one of four that now stand in Canada and the oldest of 20 worldwide. Clarke was clearly prescient in immor talizing Churchill at a time when no one was calling the man a hero. His rousing oratories had helped Britons through the blitz, yet he was nearly ousted from power in 1942, and the D-Day campaign that was to turn the tide of war was still three years away. Clarke, however, was impressed by the leader's never-surrender attitude. It was just the message hometown folk needed to hear as their own sons marched off to battle. With victory in 1945, Churchill became perhaps the greatest wartime leader in modern history. Prairie weather took its toll on the statue, so Peacock Collegiate's current welding instructor, Martin Holzer (pictured), stepped in with his students to dedicate 400 hours of hard work in a refurbishing project completed in December 2007. In appreciation, the International Churchill Society of Canada presented Holzer with its Award of Merit and Recognition. Speaking of recognition, Fred Clarke's handiwork didn't go unappreciated by Sir Winston, whose letter to a friend named Baxter eventually found its way to Moose Jaw: "My dear Baxter, thank you so much for sending a photograph of the statue made of me during the war in Saskatchewan. I was most interested to see it and read its history, and I am much obliged to you for your thought of me. I should be glad if you would convey my warm thanks to those concerned for the compliment they paid me." –Winston Churchill 46 W e s t w o r l d p46-47_ByTheWay.indd 46 >> fa l l 2 0 1 3 Max Conrad 13-08-19 9:51 AM