A few years ago I had the good fortune to go to Vimy Ridge in what was perhaps one of the most stirring moments of my adult life. There I was at the site of the famous Canadian battleground where my Grandfather had fought almost 9 decades earlier. "He was here" I kept thinking, although it was certainly more quiet now than it was back then.
When I knew my grandfather as a young boy and he'd tell me stories about the war, somehow I always pictured him as an older man fighting in the war, not the young twenty something that he was. I also imagined Vimy Ridge and Amien as being very different places than what I've now had the opportunity to visit.
My most stirring moment came when we walked through the chalk tunnels that the infantry huddled in before the attack. I wondered how he and the other men managed their fear knowing what lay ahead for them. It was simply eerie stand in those cold, dark and damp tunnels, and I never felt closer to knowing my grandfather than at that point. Somehow the old man whose lap I used to sit on got very young in my mind and very, very brave.
As we left Vimy my eyes watered with pride as I watched my daughter carry her great-grandfather's picture and show it to the Canadian staff at the interpretive centre.
Remembering is simply not enough. We enjoy a very good life here in Canada a life that has been born out of the sacrifice of others. Sons and Daughters, Mothers and Fathers have forged the true North strong and free. They have shown us the way so let's not just remember them but build a better place for all with what they have given us.
Here are some photos from our visits to Vimy Ridge:
The chalk tunnels
Sara's parents and my mom in the trenches
Our dads reading the names engraved on the monument there are 11,285 names of Canadian solders who were killed in France carved on the walls. More than 7,000 are buried in 30 war cemeteries within a 20-kilometre radius of the Vimy Memorial.
This sorrowing fi gure of a woman represents Canada—a young nation mourning her dead.
The Memorial seen from afar
Craters from the constant bombing still exist today.
