Military artifacts dug up at PNE returned to Canadian Armed Forces at ceremony

All the military artifacts dug up at Hastings Park were returned to the Canadian Armed Forces at a ceremony on Tuesday.

Crews working on the new Freedom Mobile Arch Amphitheatre found more than a dozen guns and cannons from the First World War buried at the site.

On March 27, crews discovered what appeared to be a “cannon.”

It turned out to be a captured German Howitzer from the First World War, taken as a trophy by Canadian soldiers.

Canadian troops brought a number of such weapons home, which were displayed around the city in the years after the war, according to James Calhoun, curator for the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum.

1:27 More historic military artifacts uncovered at PNE

The guns were moved to Hastings Park in the 1930s with plans to make a permanent display, but the Great Depression scuttled that plan.

By the 1940s, they were viewed as “junk,” he said, and it’s believed they were ultimately used to fill in a ravine on the site when the military took over the park in 1942.

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It was then used as a training site for troops.

As part of the all-day celebration on Tuesday, all active duty and retired military members received free admission to the Fair at the PNE.