M109 SP gun

[rob love]

The last one was fired a little over 10 years ago.

Initially the bulk of them were to be cut up. A video was posted on the net showing a couple lined up and in various states of dismantling. This did not sit well with the artillery, who consider the guns as their colours. The cutting program ceased and they were offered as monuments. Here in Shilo we have a total of 4: one at the main gate (welded and oils drained at 202WD), one at the RCHA (power plant and most interior fitments removed and sent to the museum as spares), one in static display (although operable if need be) and one operable. There are two more in the province that I know of. One went to the armouries in Brandon, and one more found it's way to a village North of Winnipeg, where it looks somewhat out of place.

I think for totals you would either have to look at Silverhawk's listing of all monuments in Canada and do a running total, or else you could try a FOI to DHH (or is it DSAL now?) (I believe it is a Mr Sampson who controls a lot of these monuments) to get the total numbers.