Honour Vimy’s forgotten soldiers

On April 9, Prime Minister Trudeau gave an address at the Vimy Memorial in France, commemorating the courage and sacrifice of Canadian troops in the First World War.

He said they had made a country and that was why we remember them. And yet, just a few hundred metres away, the bodies of 44 Canadian soldiers lie forgotten, rotting in a soggy, unmarked mass grave under a local farmer’s potato field.

One of these men is a recipient of the Victoria Cross, Canada’s highest military decoration. To make matters worse, federal government bureaucrats were made aware of this deplorable situation several years ago, and continue to do absolutely nothing to give these heroes a proper burial.

Former Edmontonian, military historian and author Norm Christie has painstakingly researched and identified the location of the unmarked grave with near certainty. A former chief records officer for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Christie is determined to recover the remains and has started a private funding effort to raise $100,000.

Grateful Canadians and heartbroken descendants have raised about half the required amount, and preliminary recovery efforts have made some progress. It’s time for the prime minister to live up to his promise to remember and to make government assistance available to arrange a decent burial for these gallant men.

Further information on Christie’s fundraising efforts can be found by searching for Recover Our Vimy Heroes on the Internet.

Harry Abbink, Edmonton