"They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning. We will remember them." - Laurence Binyon -"Act of Remembrance"
Of all the
monuments to
Canada's participation in
World War I, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is, in the
opinion of most Canadians, the most heart wrenchingly
beautiful and
somber. Far removed from
Canadian soil, like the men and boys who fought in the trenches of
France, it stands alone atop
Vimy Ridge as a stark reminder of man's
inhumanity to man. Far from glorifying
war, it embraces the purest aspect of sacrifice:
remembrance and
sorrow for those lost. That it sits on the bloodiest battlefield that Canadian soldiers fought on is a fitting
tribute to those that gave their lives for their
country.
During World War I, Canada was still a freshly minted country, largely a
Commonwealth State, tied to the political whims of Mother
England. When
Britain entered the war, Canada soon followed. Under a largely
English command, 4 Canadian divisions fought
for King and Empire. April 9, 1917 saw all four
divisions of the
Canadian Corps fighting together for the first time. At dawn, they were sent to storm
Vimy Ridge, a 14-kilometer long natural rise in the
French countryside. The ridge had become a
vital part of the
German defense system. It was so well fortified that all attempts to take it by
Allied forces during the first three years of the war had failed. Hotly contested
high ground, it was firmly in
German hands. Preceded by a
vicious artillery barrage, the Canadians advanced. That afternoon they had captured everything but
Hill 145, which fell after three days of bloody
attrition. Hailed as a great swift victory, it came at a high cost. 10,602
Commonwealth troops died, 3,598 of which hailed from Canada.
The victory at Vimy Ridge was a
turning point for Allied forces in the First World War. Back home in
Canada, the victory at Vimy Ridge
united Canadians and brought pride to the young
nation. After the war ended in 1918, the
Government of Canada began a process that would see the Vimy Memorial built. They opened a
competition for designs that saw 160 entries.
Walter S. Allward, a sculptor from
Toronto,
Ontario, was eventually awarded the design. In 1922, the government of
France gave the 250 acres of land at the site of Hill 145 to Canada in
perpetuity, as a gift in remembrance of its help during the
war. Allward's design was
titanic, using 11,000 tonnes of concrete and steel, and 6,000 tonnes of quarried
limestone. Mined from an old
Roman quarry near
Split,
Croatia, the stone was selected because it had previously been used to build a
third century Roman palace that has survived to this day in
remarkable shape. The base measures 74 metres across. The two central pylons, representing
Canada and
France, are each 45 metres high. Starting in
1926, it took 11 years to complete at a cost of $1.5 Million dollars, before
inflation. Completed in 1936, it was dedicated on July 26 the same year by
King Edward VIII of
England.
At the peak of
Hill 145, carved from a 30-tonne block of limestone, is the figure of a cloaked woman, representing the
Spirit of Canada, shown in deep mourning. She stands facing east, looking out toward the
Douai Plain. Below her, a tomb draped in
laurel branches, holds helmet and sword. On each side of the front walls at the base of the steps are statues known as the
Defenders. The two groupings of figures are known as the
Breaking of the Sword and
Sympathy for the Helpless. Above each grouping is a cannon, draped in laurel and
olive branches symbolizing
victory and
peace. Representing a childless mother and father, two other statues
recline in mourning on either side of the steps on the west side of the
monument.
Carved on the walls of the base of the
monument are the names of 11,285
Canadians who were killed in France and whose
final resting place is
unknown. More than 7,000 other Canadians
lay buried in 30 war cemeteries within a 16-kilometre
radius of the Vimy Memorial. All told, 66,655 Canadians died in the First World War.
Rising from the base, twin white
pylons, representing Canada and France, are adorned with
maple leaves and
fleur-de-li respectively. At the peak, figures of named
Peace and
Justice look down upon
Truth,
Knowledge,
Gallantry and
Sympathy. Around the lower figures, the
coat of arms of
Canada,
Britain and
France are displayed. Large
crosses are sculpted on the outside of the pylons. Between the two structures, on top of the base, a statue of a young dying
soldier, known as the
Spirit of Sacrifice, throws a
torch to his comrades.
Around the monument a 250-acre park, which like the monument itself, is maintained by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It has been largely reforested to prevent
erosion, but it still preserves the markings of war. Stretches of ground remain peppered with
shell holes from artillery bombardments and
trenches have been restored and preserved. Some parts of the park actually remain
off limits because of unexploded
munitions and
undermined land.
In 1999, as a part of
Remembrance Day ceremonies, the body of an unidentified Canadian solider was disinterred from the Cemetery at
Vimy and flown to the new
Tomb of the Unknown Solider at the foot of Canada's
National War Memorial Cenotaph in
Ottawa. The solider was a
casualty of the 1917 Vimy Ridge offensive. His body was then buried in a
full military ceremony, attended by the
Prime Minister and
Governor General. After almost 82 years, he was back in Canada, and representative of all the Canadians
lost in war.
I was on a tour of
France as a teenager when our bus traveled the road from
Calais to
Paris. When we passed though the green fields along the
Vimy Ridge rushing along a three-lane highway, few of us paid much attention to what was outside. When we came to the point on the road where you could see the
monument, the bus grew quiet. Our French
guide pointed out the tower of marble far across the field with great pride. I stared at it, and it
struck a chord. My countrymen had been here long before me and died for
peace. For the rest of the trip to Paris, I stared out on the fields and tried to
imagine what it was like all those years ago. It was a powerful
reminder not to take any thing in life for granted.
References
Commonwealth War Grave Commission - http://www.cwgc.org/
Canada's Digital Collections,- http://collections.ic.gc.ca
For King and Empire -http://www.kingandempire.com/cemetery_V.html
A visit in person