Pride swells at France memorial
Once-in-a-lifetime trip provides perspective
Like many Canadians travelling in Europe, Dexter Lathangue has a Canada flag on his backpack - his grandma sewed it on.
The Grade 11 St. Peter Catholic Secondary School student said he knew the flag was respected abroad, but this last week in Netherlands, Belgium and now France has given him a whole new perspective.
“We had only been in (Amsterdam) for a few hours when someone came up and said ‘we love the Canadians,’” Lathangue said. “Seeing us here, it brings them a lot of happiness and it brings us a lot of pride.”
That pride was swelling as Lathangue and 50 of his peers from St. Peter and Holy Cross secondary schools joined more than 25,000 people at the National Vimy Memorial in France Sunday.
There the students stood within reaching distance of the Royal princes and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and took in the commemoration of Canada’s most celebrated and costly military victory.
“I am so incredibly proud to be Canadian right now,” said Lathangue, who captured a selfie with Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. “It’s an unforgettable experience, honestly.”
Canadians across the country packed into the Memorial grounds as Governor General David Johnston, Prime Minister Trudeau, Prince Charles and French President François Hollande spoke about the 100th anniversary of the pivotal First World War battle.
“I thought it was really moving,” said Ryan Prentice, a Grade 12 Holy Cross student who snatched a close up picture of Prince Harry of Wales. “It was amazing to see the sheer amount of people who came from across Canada to remember the soldiers who fought here.”
Grace Kemp, a Grade 11 St. Peter student, said she was always interested in the history of the great wars, but this trip has opened her eyes to the stories and experiences of the young men who fought.
“When I heard about this trip, I knew I had to come. It has been very moving. It really has been a once in a lifetime experience,” she said.
The day before Vimy 100, our students toured the sites of Ypres (pronounced ee-per), Belgium.
At 8 p.m. we merged into a bustling crowd under the city’s Menin Gate, where a memorial bears the names of 55,000 men, 6,983 of them Canadian, who were lost without trace during the defence of Ypres in the First World War.
Standing under the arch with Canadians from Vancouver to Newfoundland, we heard the piercing, goose bump-inducing call of the buglers as they played the Last Post. This ceremony occurs every night here and it has since 1926. On this night, there was a crowd of about 1,000 people.
St. Peter teacher Linda Gendron had the privilege of laying a wreath on behalf of her father, a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 58 in Gatineau, Que.
Beau Harper, a Grade 12 Holy Cross student, and Grace Kemp, a Grade 11 St. Peter student, were selected by raffle on the tour bus to accompany Gendron in the wreath laying ceremony.
“It was a very emotional ceremony and it was amazing to see how many Canadians and locals come out to watch it every night,” Harper said.
We began the day at the In Flanders Fields museum in the city’s famous Cloth Hall. There we learned the true horrors of the First World War - indiscriminate bombing, trench conditions and chemical warfare.
We toured the many Commonwealth cemeteries that dot the flat lands of Belgium. At Essex Farm Cemetery we stood where Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae penned his famous poem - In Flanders Fields.
Students were awed by the magnitude of Tyne Cot Cemetery, the resting place of 11,954 soldiers of the Commonwealth Forces, including 1,011 Canadians.
We gathered for a group photo under the sculpture of the Brooding Soldier in St. Julien, one of the most stunning war memorials on the Western front, dedicated to the 1st Canadian Infantry Division who were one the first targets of a chlorine gas strike.
We drove down Canada-laan (Canada Lane) lined with Canadian maples en route to Hill 62 Memorial. In the Ypres frontline, Hill 62 was one of the only places where the Germans did not occupy the heights. For this reason, it was fought over many times. For Canada, the Battles of Hill 62 marked the start of a progression that would ultimately result in becoming the most formidable attacking Corps on the Western Front.
While in Ypres, students attended mass at the historic St. Martin Cathedral, built in 1370.
Stay tuned. Tomorrow we jump into the Second Word War and the sights of Juno Beach.