​Citadel Hill has gained two new rare replica cannons, known as guns, and they come with a special history.

Bruno Pépin, from Kingston, Ont., first visited Nova Scotia about 10 years ago. He fell in love with the historical re-enactments put on by the Halifax Citadel Society.

He loved it so much that one of his dying wishes was to have two of his precious replica cannons go to the national historical site. That wish has been fulfilled.

It doubles the Citadel's rare replica cannon collection and puts them on their way to a goal of six.

Pépin was always a history buff.

He had two replica guns made, paying to have wood imported from the United States for the wheels.

The guns are exact replicas of a battery of six that were used in Halifax in the late 1860s and 1870s.

Re-enactors pose with one of Bruno's two guns that were brought to the Citadel earlier this month by his widow. (Robert Short/CBC)

A year ago, Pépin took the two guns on a 16-hour road trip, visiting Nova Scotia for the last time. He went with his friends to visit Citadel Hill and fell more deeply in love with the work being done for living history in Halifax.

"He had a great time and he loved how welcoming the fort was to him," said his wife, Sophie.

Terminal Illness

After his visit, Bruno Pépin's illness became terminal.

He had Caroli disease. It is a congenital disorder that affects the bile ducts within the liver and occurs in about one in a million people.

Sophie said her husband was strong-willed and didn't let on how sick he really was. It wasn't until after he died in May that she found medical records dating back 20 years and saw he had been on a waiting list for a liver transplant.

Rod MacLean, executive director of Halifax Citadel Society, says it has always been a dream for the group to recreate the original battery of guns. (Robert Short/CBC)

After he died, she went on a road trip to Halifax with two friends, bringing the two guns to their new home. She also brought some of her husband's ashes to spread at a place he loved so dearly.

"Even with his ashes, when I spread his ashes on the Citadel, his ashes wouldn't blow away," she said. "They stayed on the grass. Even in his ashes he didn't want to blow away."

In retrospect, she said, his final visit to the Citadel last summer may have been a bucket-list wish.

The re-enactment group celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. (Robert Short/CBC)

'It's been a dream of ours'

Rod MacLean, executive director of the Halifax Citadel Society, said Bruno's guns are special to the program for many reasons.

"It's always been a dream of ours to recreate that battery through our re-enactment program," said MacLean.

Sophie Pépin says she didn't know how sick her husband had been for the past two decades until going through medical records after his death. (Submitted by Sophie Pépin)

He said these guns add a lot of capacity to the program and allows the society to tell the artillery story much more fully than before.

There is also a special emotional importance of the guns and MacLean said there is an onus to take special care of them.

Sophie Pépin said her husband would be happy to be resting on the hill. She thinks a piece of him lives on in Halifax.

"I figured, because the cannons were there, a part of him was there. To spread [the ashes] out, he sort of has an overview of the cannons still."

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