Vimy

08/16/17 Filed in: Wanderings

We Americans often forget that our Canadian neighbors have a history different from our own and that they remember events we forget. Beyond that it happened, I don’t think most of my students remembered anything about World War I. That is not true in Canada—or Australia, or Britain.

Monument at Vimy

Just a week ago, 30,000 Canadains came to join Prince Charles and Prime Minister Trudeau at the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge.

Beavers at Vimuy

From the base of a flagpole at Vimy Ridge: one of the royal badges of Canada.

Memory at Vimy

“At the going down of the sun, and at its rising, / We will remember them.”

Danger at Vimy

This area has been left largely undisturbed since 1918, so it is especially dangerous. Even from land that has been tilled constantly since then, tons of ordinance, some of it still dangerous, is recovered every year.

Note at Vimy

A note left a Vimy Ridge.

Guide at Vimy

One of the college student hosts the Canadian government sends over to staff its war memorials.

Flags at Vimy

The flags of Canada, France, and Newfoundland. The first and last are the current flags, but under banners that bore the Union Jack in the canton, both Canada and Newfoundland, which were then separate independent dominions, sent troops to defend France.

Trenches at Vimy

A hundred years ago this landscape was all mud, the trenches were deep, and there were no trees. The trees that shelter the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel have all been brought from Canada.