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The Pride of Vimy Ridge
Innisfil Enterprise
April 11, 2007
By Peter Van Loan, MP, York-Simcoe
The dedication of the restored Vimy Ridge
memorial was a moving occasion, as all who
watched on TV will agree. But my fondest
memories of the 90th anniversary of Canada's
coming of age will be those from the events
the Saturday beforehand, at several of which
I spoke for Canada
But first, the day began with the interment
ceremony for Herbert Peterson, a private who
died in fighting in the weeks after the
victory at Vimy. His remains were the first
ever from that war identified through DNA
testing after being recently discovered (one
of the over 10,000 Canadians previously lost
or not identified). The ceremony was moving.
We gathered, in the presence of family
members of Private Peterson, at the Cemetary
LaChaudiere - one of the many Commonwealth
cemetaries across the former front lines,
where hundreds of thousands of dead are
buried, Like McCrae's poem, the larks did
still bravely singing fly above. His casket
was draped with a flag he never knew.
The next stop was a wreath laying at
cemetary 2, atop Vimy .Ridge. We were each
given a little wooden cross with a poppy on
it and the words "lest we forget", hand made
by a Legionnaire from Lambeth. I put mine at
the grave of Private GC Milne, of the 75th
Batallion Canadian Infantry who died on the
assault on Vimy April 9 1917, Age 18.
That afternoon I spoke at
Givenchy-en-Gohelle, a small village on the
occupied slope of the ridge. The town was
naming a square the "Place des Byng Boys" in
honour of the Canadian soldiers who called
themselves that, after their Commander
Julian Byng. I departed from the script a
bit to rehabilitate the record from Byng's
time as Canada's Governor-General, the King-Byng
Affair, and to pay tribute to Lady Byng and
her hockey trophy. The whole Village came
out for the occasion.
Then, we had a similar experience when I
spoke in the Village of Thelus, where they
named a street "Rue Des Artilleurs" after
General Macnaughton's artillery. His
grandson, General Leslie is now head of
Canadian Land Forces (The Army) and was
there. I spoke with all the little children
(who were especially amused when I chatted
with them in french).
We then had a 15 minute parade into the
Town's Salle des Fetes, and all the children
crowded around Veterans Affairs Minister
Greg Thompson and me for the walk. Again the
event was capped with a champagne and
biscuits reception hosted bv the Village
Mayor and the grateful residents.
I was struck by the genuine appreciation and
gratitude of the local residents for what
Canada did in liberating this area 90 years
ago. None of us were alive at the time - but
the legacy of freedom endures, and we are
the inheritors of that freedom and the
resulting appreciation, earned by the
sacrifice of our forebears almost a century
ago.
The evening, we attended a Sunset Ceremony
and then an illumination Ceremony at the
awe-inspiring monument. Thousands came out.
I delivered a lengthy speech tout en
francais, with the wind blowing my notes and
it quite cold. But the discomfort was
nothing compared to that endured by the
100,000 Canadians who were gathered in the
muddy cold trenches 90 years ago that night,
as they prepared for the assault on the
ridge that would remain to this day the
greatest military victory Canada has won.
I spoke of the sacrifice of the 3598 who
gave their lives in taking the Ridge, who in
doing so, earned Canada its place at the
tables of the great powers of the world.
When the Peace was negotiated, Canada was no
longer simply part of the British Empire
delegation, but a Dominion in her own right,
with a vote as every other sovereign country
exercised, and our own signature on the
Peace Treaty. It was a mark of the birth of
our nationhood, staked out by Prime Minister
Robert Borden, and paid for by the sacrifice
and success of the Canadian soldier -
especially at Vimy Ridge.
The illumination ceremonies were moving,
wonderfully narrated, and featured stirring
music. The monument looks beautiful under
the new illumination.
All in all, a great and memorable day.
Sorrow, awe, inspiration, admiration and
pride. At Vimy Ridge, one is overwhelmed by
emotions. As the Prime Minister said, you
feel more Canadian and Vimy Ridge than
perhaps anywhere else in the world.
We will remember them.
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