Vimy Ridge commemoration
 

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the battle for Vimy Ridge near Arras, an event of huge importance to everyone but particularly to Canadians. It's too late to go there today because you had to apply for an e-ticket ahead of time, which 25,000 people did, and people are requested to arrive by 10 a.m. for the 4 p.m. ceremony -- but the weather is supposed to be fantastic and it's a great day for a picnic, so hooray for them.

Justin Trudeau will be there with François Hollande, but Princes Charles, William and Harry will all be there, too, along with Nicola Sturgeon.

For anybody still looking for day trips not too far from Paris, I highly recommend a visit. Here is a report I made about Vimy Ridge a few years ago: http://tinyurl.com/Vimy2017

Thank you for posting this kerouac. It's been the subject of a lot of coverage here in Canada obviously. 12,000 school children traveled there for today's ceremony. We visited on a grey, foggy day in the 80s and were completely alone there. It was haunting and humbling. Lest we forget.

Seeing Vimy was one of my greatest thrills as a Canadian. I wish I could be there today as well. Thanks Kerouac.

Kerouac, I was happy to see your post. The Vimy memorial is not just for Canadians but for all who died there on the Allied side (there are more French and British graves than Canadian, and too many of all nations.) The memorial itself, as you know, does not celebrate military victory but instead commemorates the loss and suffering at all battles throughout the First World War. No heroic military images; instead, a deep sense of sorrow. In many ways it serves the same approach and attitude as the once-radical Vietnam memorial in Washington has, although much earlier of course.
The day I visited Vimy was overcast and damp, perhaps as fitting for the mood if not as photogenic.
Many of the young people attending today have studied a specific soldier's story, which really brings it home. I think the French have been far-sighted in involving young people at commemorations of war, as have the Dutch where Canada was deeply involved in WW2. At the official Netherlands ceremony on the 75th anniversary for the end of that war, a year ago, two kids laid the first wreath, ahead of the royalty and national politicians.
The Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper has run a long series by its esteemed writer Roy MacGregor on Vimy and also the lesser-known Hill 70 in the same region. His work has examined the theory that the Vimy battle promoted the grown of an independent Canadian character. Some think (especially prominent Canadian historian Tim Cook) that the memorial itself has been more of a catalyst than the specific battle, unveiled as it was a full two decades later and on the brink of another cataclysm. War is never a simple winner/loser equation.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/roy-macgregor

Great information and photos, kerouac, as usual. It's the first time I heard of Vimy Ridge and the battle.

This is a wonderful historical fiction novel about (among other things) the carving of the Vimy Memorial. A Canadian Book Club favourite.

The Stone Cutters
Jane Urquhart

"Set in the first half of the twentieth century, but reaching back to Bavaria in the late nineteenth century, The Stone Carvers weaves together the story of ordinary lives marked by obsession and transformed by art. At the centre of a large cast of characters is Klara Becker, the granddaughter of a master carver, a seamstress haunted by a love affair cut short by the First World War, and by the frequent disappearances of her brother Tilman, afflicted since childhood with wanderlust. From Ontario, they are swept into a colossal venture in Europe years later, as Toronto sculptor Walter Allward’s ambitious plans begin to take shape for a war memorial at Vimy, France. Spanning three decades, and moving from a German-settled village in Ontario to Europe after the Great War, The Stone Carvers follows the paths of immigrants, labourers, and dreamers. Vivid, dark, redemptive, this is novel of great beauty and power."

Wonderful info, Kerouac. I always learn so much from you. I am glad to know that there are still remembrances that take place here. In reading your report, it always makes me sad to see nameless headstones so It I'd good that we still honor their service and sacrifice.

I have had the privilege of visiting the Vimy Memorial on two occasions.

Thanks for starting this thread, kerouac.

We visited Vimy just ten days ago ; the preparations for the Comemoration were already on the way.
As AA said , it was a privilege to see the Mamorial, walk the grounds and stop at the cemetery.





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