Armistice Day
Posted by G-rant - 20/11/08 at 07:11:02 amHi all,
I apologize for the tardyness of this post because it was supposed to be posted last Wednesday. Either way, as your European correspondent I feel that it is my duty to tell you of my adventure to the Vimy Ridge monument in Vimy France that I did on Rememberance Day. This small piece of Canadian territory in northern France is the site of one of Canada’s most important strategic offensives of the First World War. You can all go to Wikipedia and get a detailed description of the event, but I’ll give you a short run down.
In the early part of the war, the Germans moved into the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France invading and taking over every town along the way. Vimy Ridge is an outcrop of land that provides a view for many, many kilometers (it’s virtually flat otherwise) and was thus an integral part of the German’s control over the territory. France and Britain together had freed some of the surrounding towns, but they could not remove the Germans from the ridge. On April 9th, 1917, the Canadians (in command and majority, but others as well) moved in with a four kilometer wide front line and in the first day alone were able to take the majority of the ridge. Strategy, bravery, extensive training and technical ability all contributed to the removal of the Germans from the area by April 12th.
My trip to Vimy Ridge was actually the culmination of another trip that had begun in Maastricht (yay Holland!) and then Lille, France. Vimy was the last stop and all of us (there were 6 with us and we were meeting 3 at the monument) were probably most excited for this stop. Leaving Lille at 9 A.M. we got to the train station to find out that the train we had booked to Vimy was not running on Armistice Day (name of the peace treaty). So we hopped on another train with the hopes of catching a bus to Vimy from another town. Too bad the busses weren’t running all the way to Vimy either, only to the town beside it. So from that station we got on another train and actually passed by the town of Vimy itself although we didn’t stop. As we looked at the town of Vimy, the monument, which is primarily made up of two enormous white obelisks, became visible, piercing the horizon. But the train went right past. We got off at the next stop but decided to get back on the train to go back towards the monument to a closer town. We then got off at Avion which is pretty much beside the town of Vimy. Beside is all relative though…
Obviously we were on foot at this point because the town was virtually shut down for the holiday. In the distance we could still see the monument and decided that we might as well start walking. Down the highway we went, then through an old muddy farm field, then another muddier farm field, then a corn field, then another mud field, then some country roads… you get the picture. It really was an epic scene that is difficult to put into words. 7 Canadians (we met another Canadian girl) hiking through the mud, with 60 km/h winds blowing us backwards with one goal in mind: to reach the spot on which just over 3000 Canadians, all about the same age as us, had sacrificed their lives for our freedom (yes, although we won the battle, we lost over 3000 men). Eventually we arrived at the town of Vimy in which we found a small-ish war cemetary. Rows upon rows of small white tombstones with poppies blowing between them. The mood became pensive and somber, as we walked in between the stones reading the names and the ages of the fallen soldiers: 18, 18, 19, 30, 22, 18, 17, 21, 23 etc. As if we were in some kind of literary work, pathetic fallacy had its way and it began to rain. Not much, but just enough to get us soaked and further enforce the severity what had happened there.
After a period of time we left the cemetary in silence and walked down a road towards another highway. The monument was getting closer, but it was still about 3 kilometers away and there were several farm fields and a forest in the way, not to mention the mountain that is the ridge itself. So we stuck out our thumbs to see if we could hitch a ride up there. Eventually a beautiful french woman stopped and said two people could get in and she’d come back with a bigger car to bring the rest of us – apparently some people still care. I am very glad that we got picked up because although we appeared to be close, it still took about ten minutes by car and walking through more muddy fields (these had very deep mud in them, so it wasn’t really an option) was not ideal. Finally, after about two and a half hours of hiking we reached our destination. The funny thing about it was that it really didn’t feel very long at all and none of us actually got hungry or tired at all (this went through and past lunch) until after we had appreciated the monument. This was probably one of the first times that I have ever really genuinely felt the spirit of nationalism and intense pride in being Canadian. I felt as though I had arrived at home. I felt as though I had arrived at home more so than can remember ever feeling in Canada.
The memorial itself is probably the most beautiful memorial to the War that I have ever seen. The two enormous white obelisks pierce the battle grounds and jut into the sky. Upon them and the pedestal there are various statues carved into the stone representing different things. Canada, represented by a beautiful young woman dressed in robes, stands at the edge of the monument looking out over the French Flanders countryside; mourning, she represents the young Canada that can never forget her sons lost in battle. To the right and left of the monument there are preserved artillery craters and on the back side, more craters although these ones are fenced off because there are still live land mines in the ground. Back towards the visitor center, where you can find the preserved trenches and underground tunnels, there is an enormous crater about one hundred feet wide and forty feet deep. Yeah.
I strongly encourage anyone who is travelling to Europe to make a trip to the Vimy Ridge memorial, or at least to one of the other Canadian battlefields: it will likely change your perspective of life, Canada and the world. I hope you all enjoyed this little story and that perhaps you will be inspired to visit a similar memorial at some point in your life. I have attached a few pictures to this article that partially illustrate my trip:
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- The journey begins on a highway… photo: Allen
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- Hiking through muddy fields with the monument in the distance. photo: Hartlen
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- Harley, Me and Ian in the distance. photo: Allen
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- Self explanatory. photo: Fairhead
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- Distant memorial. photo: Allen
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- Passing through the town of Vimy. photo: Grant
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- The Canadian cemetary in the town of Vimy. photo: Allen
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- photo: Grant
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- Cut open a poorly locked fence. photo: Hartlen
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- Ben on a ridge by the highway scouting out our route
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- Memorial. photo: Hartlan
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- Arrival at the monument. photo: Grant
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- photo: Grant
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- Engraving on the memorial. photo: Grant
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- Canada. photo: Allen
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- Canada, a nation in mourning. photo: Grant
For those of you that have me on facebook, there will be more pictures posted over time.
Stay classy and don’t forget.
3 Comments »
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Thanks Andrew. That was truly an inspiring read.
Comment by Roland — November 20, 2008 #
hey buddy, this is great that you made it out to the vimy monument, although it sounded like a trek and a half to get there I’m sure through what you just wrote, it was worth it. My girlfriend actually went to the monument on the sunday when the actual ceremony took place. She said the same thing as you, “that I never felt so proud to be a Canadian.” Its great to hear about all your adventures in Europe, keep on updating us all. Soon enough I will have my own adventures to write about.
Keep up the travels,
Simon
Comment by simonmead — November 21, 2008 #
Thanks Andrew.
Comment by jon — November 21, 2008 #