It’s been eight years since I spent Remembrance Day (known as Veterans Day in the United States) at the World War I battlefield and memorial at Vimy Ridge, France. Yet looking back, the feelings my visit provoked on that day remain just as strong now. So it seems appropriate to share a blog I wrote a couple of years ago about my time at Vimy Ridge. Lest We Forget.
Ninety five years ago today, at 11 in the morning on November 11th, 1918, the fighting of the Great War officially ended with the signing of the armistice. Over the previous four years, 9 million soldiers and goodness knows how many civilians had been killed in what was called at the time, The War to End War.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was one small part of that war. For four days in April 1917, Canadian (and some British) soldiers fought to capture an area centred on Vimy Ridge in northern France. They achieved their objectives, but by the end of the battle almost 3600 of them were dead and 7000 were wounded.
Vimy trenches in 1917
In a conflict made up of countless confrontations, the Battle of Vimy Ridge was simply part of the much larger Battle of Arras. But for Canadians it represents one…
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