The “Lost Airmen of the Empire” memorial honors the sacrifices of the 179 people who died while posted to, or working at, the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Patricia Bay during World War II. This memorial is located on the north side of the Victoria International Airport on Mills Road in North Saanich. This spot, "Hospital Hill", is the highest point on the airfield, allowing for great plane watching, views of Mount Baker to the east and Patricia Bay with Malahat Mountain to the west. This is the location of what was once the medical facility for the RCAF during the war.
The memorial, which consists of 25 twelve-foot high steel feathers, was sculpted by noted artist Illarion Gallant. The feathers are fashioned after plumage of the Cooper's Hawk, a predator noted for its extraordinary agility in flight and ferocity in hunting. The names of the lost airmen are cut into the steel. The feathers are arranged in a military matrix with some removed, representing the randomness and divergent fatal aircraft accident locations over South Vancouver Island. The original hospital gates still remain, welcoming visitors into the memorial. In the centre of the memorial is a seating area created with bricks salvaged from the demolished hospital administration building. The pathway into the memorial is lined with red maples. The memorial was dedicated in 2017.
To log this as a find, please send a note to the cache owner with the answers to the following questions. Logs without note to CO will be deleted.
1. On the middle feather of the group of 3 feathers on the far side of the Flight Path (near the stand of trees), what was the youngest person's age?
2. From the info sign to the left of the Memorial entrance, what structure was once used as an airplane hangar?
Please post photo of yourself or of your GPS/phone with one of the feathers.
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.