VIMY CENTENNIAL ‘SPECIAL’
POLL SHOWS GROWING SUPPORT FOR MAKING BATTLE’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY PART OF CANADA’S 150TH CELEBRATION
As a young girl, Joanne Sutherland asked her father plenty of questions about what exactly happened when he fought at Vimy Ridge, but James Ross Sutherland never detailed the horrors he witnessed as a soldier with the 44th Battalion in the First World War.
“He was a man who was very open and challenged you to discuss things, but when it came to the topic of the First World War, I came to realize that was a wall that I was not to come to,” Sutherland said.
Even in a postcard to his mother in 1917, James didn’t expand on what he had seen overseas. In fact, he even apologized for the condition the postcard was in after he held on to it through the epic battle at Vimy Ridge, something he described in his note as “a little bit of excitement.”
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a horrific fight, yet a defining moment in Canadian history. More than 10,500 Canadians were wounded — about 3,600 of them killed — during the battle, which occurred April 9-12, 1917.
With the one- year countdown to the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge now begun, Jeremy Diamond, the Vimy Foundation director, is aiming to increase aware- ness about the battle’s importance across the country.
The Vimy Foundation recently commissioned an Ipsos Reid poll sampling 1,005 Canadians about their knowledge of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. According to the poll, 83 per cent agreed the 100th anniversary of the battle should be one of the most important celebrations during Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017. That number is up slightly from 75 per cent last year.
Diamond says the organization is expecting that next year’s gathering at the battle site in northern France will be the largest since the original pilgrimage was made in 1936 to unveil the Vimy monument.
“We are hearing f rom people on a regular basis about the centennial,” he said. “There is this incredi ble energy and i nterest from people a year out that want to be involved because they know this is going to be something special.”
According to the Ipsos Reid poll, one in 20 Canadians say they or someone they know is planning to travel to France for the centennial celebration. Many will be visiting the battlefield for the first time.
Sutherland has visited several times, and each visit has been “so moving.”
“Visiting Vimy is something I believe all Canadians should try to do,” she said.
Part of what makes the experience so incredible is walking the grounds where Canadians fought and getting a sense of what the troops went through. Her father was one of the soldiers who helped successfully storm a high ridge known as “the Pimple.” The capture of that hill led to the Germans finally accepting their loss to the Canadians at Vimy Ridge.
Four months after Vimy, Sutherland’s father was seriously injured in the Battle of Hill 70. Part of his left rib cage was blown out and his lungs badly damaged. He spent time in hospitals in France and England before finally returning to Canada.
Bob Dewar’s father, Oliver, was a stretcher- bearer during the First World War, given the job of bringing injured soldiers to safety and clearing bodies off the battlefields, including Vimy Ridge.
Dewar and his t hree brothers have never visited Vimy, but are planning to travel to France next year. The Dewars believe it is their duty to commemorate the war effort.
“It’s very important for Canadians, especially young people, to know what happened there,” Dewar said. “Now that we’re older, we realize what kind of a commitment that would have been, enlisting in the war, not knowing if you’re going to come home. But they did it and we should all be proud that they did.”
The centennial celebration will include the grand opening of a new $ 10- mill i on education centre at Vimy Ridge.
Sutherland hopes t he anniversary will help Canadians appreciate what the thousands of soldiers went through during those four days a century ago.
“There’s a difference between learning about the dates of battles and knowing about the people and what they had gone through,” she said. “We wouldn’t be living in the country we are today if all those soldiers hadn’t done their service.”