War photo “Wait For Me, Daddy” to be cast in bronze on spot of famous picture

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. – The City of New Westminster, B.C., is just an outstretched hand away from memorializing a famous Second World War moment in bronze.

The Metro Vancouver city has selected artists Veronica and Edwin Dam de Nogales to create a memorial artwork of the picture “Wait For Me, Daddy,” taken nearly 73 years ago in New Westminster.

The photograph by Claude Detloff, showed a child breaking away from his mother to reach out to his uniformed father, who was among a lone line of men marching off to war.

Just weeks after the picture was taken, the photo was featured in Life Magazine and has since become the second-most requested picture in Canada’s National Archives.

The bronze memorial of the famed shot will be placed in New Westminster’s Hyack Square, in almost the exact spot where the picture was taken on Oct. 1, 1940.

It is due to be unveiled in October 2014, and the city is also seeking a National Historic Site designation, while Canada Post has plans to issue a “Wait For Me, Daddy” commemorative stamp.