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An argument over the rightful place of a century-old German field cannon has pitted a councillor for the RM of Weyburn against a group of legion members in Fort Qu’Appelle.

The 77 mm Feldkanone 96 came to Fort Qu’Appelle in 1920 as a war trophy captured from the Germans in one of the battles of Ypres during the First World War. It spent 98 years in the town, first in Treaty 4 Park and then near the local legion.

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But one day a man named Jack Lowe hauled it off, with an eye to having it restored. He said there was talk of sending the historic cannon to a steel mill as scrap, and claims a former mayor — now dead — gave him permission to save it. It sat in his yard until last August, after he decided he was too old to keep caring for it.

That’s when Dan Cugnet picked up the weapon.

“My sole goal is to see it restored, ensure that it is preserved, and eventually accessible to the public, whether that’s a museum of some kind or some other institution eventually,” the RM of Weyburn councillor said. “That’s the idea.”