Exterior Exhibits
At the Elgin Military Museum artefacts come in all sizes - some
too large to find a home inside. Armoured Personnel Carriers,
sentry boxes and cannons fall into this category.
M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers
In the spring of 2010, after a lot of fancy manoeuvring through
St. Thomas streets, and with the assistance of Yarmouth Crane
Services, an M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier was placed on a cement
pad at the west end of the parking lot at the rear of the museum.
Another was 'parked' on the south side of the lot until a permanent
arrangement can be made. With a nominal value of $20,000, the APCs
are one of the largest donations ever received by the Museum.
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Canada purchased approximately 1,143 of these vehicles from the
mid 1960s until the early 1990s and utilized them in several
formats - both standard and stretched. Their versatility in terms
of adaptability of their parts to different circumstances was
legendary. The M113 APCs, which carry eleven men and a crew of two,
were the work horses of the Canadian Forces especially on UN
missions including at the airport during the siege of Sarajevo in
Bosnia in 1993. These vehicles have come a long way since the Kangaroo
- the first APC invented by Canadian soldiers in Holland in
1944.
The Cannon and the Sentry Box
When The Elgin Military Museum opened in 1982, Canron Iron
Foundry built a half scale replica 32 pounder cannon for the
Museum. It has always had a place of honour at our entrance. In the
last few years weather and age have taken its toll and the carriage
really needed replacing. We had to dismantle the cannon for the
safety of everyone coming to see the Museum.
Thanks to volunteers from the St. Thomas Senior's Centre a new
carriage was built and on April 20th, 2008, we had an official
rededication and open house here at the Museum. Come inside to see
the wooden pattern used to make the cannon barrel. In the winter,
the cannon and carrier are protected from the elements in a
specially built winter cover.
What would a military museum be without a cannon and a sentry
box to charge the imaginations of young and old alike? The museum
is happy to oblige.