First World War Trench Display
Lieutenant Augustus McKnight Memorial Trench
Built in 2014, and closed in 2022, the World War One McKnight Centennial Trench was an authentic outdoor exhibit used to educate the public about an important part of Canadian History and pay tribute to the soldiers that fought in World War One.
The trench was dedicated to the Lieutenant Augustus McKnight, a Port Moody resident. He was one of the first engineers in this city and, when World War One began, he enlisted. He went overseas and ended up in France. Unfortunately, on August 11, 1916, McKnight was fatally wounded and buried at the Reninghelst New Military Cemetery in Belgium.
Also displayed within the exhibit, immediately after entering the gates, was a SE5a replica plane. Signage about the aftermath of the First World War, a timeline of World War II, and Canada's role in the liberation of the Netherlands was found near the beginning.
In between the plane and the start of the trench, visitors saw ‘No Man’s Land’, an area that was heavily guarded and with barbed wire littered the ground. Then came the entry to the trench. The panels described not only life in the trenches for the soldiers, but also women’s roles in the war, and talked about the First Nation, Chinese, Japanese, African, and Sikh soldiers who fought as well. The trench was accurately constructed to have the fire step that troops would have used to look over the side and the holes for the snipers. There was also a bunker that was usually reserved for the soldiers with a higher rank and for communication. As visitors walked through the exhibit, it was easy to imagine what it would have been like to live, sleep, and eat between these walls.
Burnaby North Secondary School and our POMO Museum team came together on a project to develop a documentary about life in the trenches to honour the 100th anniversary of the Armistice. Curtis Alsop and his classmates took up the roles of the soldiers, even using letters from soldiers as inspiration for the characters. To read more about the project, click the link below.
