Shrines Of Remembrance

Vimy Ridge. Beaumont Hamel.

For the two dominions of Canada and Newfoundland, these were the two most significant battles and battle sites of WW I. Since the joining of the two dominions under the banner of Canada in 1949, Vimy and Beaumont Hamel have remained prominent among the 13 battlefield memorials in France and Belgium commemorating the exploits of Canadians and Newfoundlanders in WW I.

In April 1997, Canada gave equal and unique distinction to Vimy and Beaumont Hamel with the announcement that the two sites in northern France had been designated national historic sites, the first such sites outside the country proper.

Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage marked the recognition during a pilgrimage to Europe Nov. 6-10, 1997. At each site the delegation conducted a ceremony of remembrance to commemorate our war dead. Then the group moved to a large tent for a formal ceremony to unveil a historic-sites plaque. The schedule unfolded in duplication of the original sequence, beginning at Beaumont Hamel.

In the summer of 1916, the Allies and the Germans were deadlocked, facing each other across rows of trenches that stretched 966 kilometres from the Belgian coast through France to the Swiss border. Between the two front lines lay no man’s land. Tactics had not evolved as quickly as technology and head-on infantry attacks were still the order of the day, even though barbed wire and machine-guns gave the defenders a tremendous advantage. The result was a bloody stalemate.

The British chose the Somme region in an effort to break the stalemate with an infantry assault across a broad front, beginning July 1, 1916. The 100,000 attackers had little chance. In that single day, British forces suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead.

At Beaumont Hamel, across open ground in broad daylight, 801 men of the Newfoundland Regiment launched an attack on entrenched German positions. Eighty-one years later, another Newfoundlander, Veterans Affairs Minister Fred Mifflin, stood at the site and described the result: “Within 30 minutes there was no one left to carry on the fight…. The numbers were absolutely appalling. Seven out of every eight members of the regiment had been either killed or wounded. A mere 68 answered the rollcall the following day. The Newfoundland Regt. had been virtually annihilated.”

In his role as emcee of the plaque ceremony, Dr. Richard Alway, chairman of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, noted: “The commemoration of Beaumont Hamel is a commemoration of both the heritage of Newfoundland and the heritage of Canada.”

Emotion prevailed at the ceremony. Sheila Copps, the minister of Canadian Heritage from Ontario who is married to a Newfoundlander, said: “Beaumont Hamel tore apart the hearts of every family in Newfoundland….” Voice breaking, she added: “A lot of Canadians don’t know as much about these gallant Newfoundlanders as they should.” After stopping to gather herself, she continued: “Canada takes great pleasure in declaring this hallowed place–and it is a hallowed place–the first Canadian historic site outside the physical boundaries of Canada…. I hope this declaration will make this a place where Canadians come to learn to build a better country.”

Smokey Smith, one of Canada’s two surviving WW II Victoria Cross recipients, said: “I know I’m supposed to be some kind of a hero, but I would tell you our heroes are lying right out there.”

He was referring to the battle site, which is well preserved to this day. When you walk the ground, it is easy to wonder at the insanity that was trench warfare in WW I. Surveying the site is a bronze statue of a caribou, the symbol of the unit that has for many years carried the designation the Royal Newfoundland Regt. The statue points towards St. John’s.

At a banquet later, the speakers included Major Sean Leonard of the Royal Newfoundland Regt., now a reserve unit. “Sheila Copps stirred our spirits,” the 32-year-old observed. “She made us feel on top of the world…. But we are not the best. We are part of the best. Canada is the best.”

C. William Doody, a senator from Newfoundland, also spoke: “All parts of Canada gave of their sons in that war. I know Vimy is the big event for most, but in terms of my background, my history and my traditions, there is no shrine more sacred than Beaumont Hamel.”

The Somme was a slaughterhouse. In the five-month campaign that ended in November 1916, the Allies advanced only a few kilometres in that sector at a cost of 600,000 casualties. In contrast, the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 marked a turning point, both in the evolution of tactics and the perception of Canada as a nation.

The Allies had suffered 200,000 casualties and still failed to take the well-fortified ridge which stretches for 14 km and commands the Douai Plain. But the Canadian Corps, 100,000 strong, changed all that on April 9, 1917. With all four divisions fighting together for the first time, they advanced in waves behind a creeping artillery barrage that kept the opposition pinned down.

“By mid-afternoon they had taken the whole crest,” Mifflin explained. “Within three days victory was complete. It was one of the most stunning Allied victories of the entire war…. At home it brought honor and pride to a young nation. Vimy Ridge occupies an important place in the history of Canada and in the hearts and minds of Canadians. It is part of the very fabric of our nationhood, for, at Vimy, our soldiers moved Canada well along in the evolution from colony to nation. It is celebrated as a national coming of age.”

At Vimy, says a history produced by VAC, the Canadian Corps “captured more ground, more prisoners and more guns than any previous British offensive in two and a half years of war.” Even though Vimy was very costly for Canada, the 10,602 casualties, including 3,598 dead, were actually lower than the horrific norm for major assaults on the Western Front.

Heritage Minister Copps declared: “It was here at Vimy Ridge that came understanding. It was here at Vimy Ridge that came sacrifice. It was here at Vimy Ridge that came honor. Never have Canadians stood taller than from the heights of Vimy…. Those very young men came to Vimy Ridge as the children of Canada. And those young men, those children of Canada, captured Vimy Ridge as heroes of the world.”

VAC Minister Mifflin noted another impact that is surviving testament to Vimy’s importance: Across Canada today, 35 cities and towns from St. John’s, Nfld., to Duncan, B.C., have a street named Vimy.

Secretary of State (Parks) Andy Mitchell said: “The victory at Vimy was a unifying force for all Canadians in 1917. The victory at Vimy remains a unifying force for all Canadians today, for we are all beneficiaries of the legacy of peace left by our Canadian soldiers.”

Vimy is well preserved. The battle site is part of a 100-hectare park that is meticulously maintained. In addition to the majestic monument known as the Vimy Memorial, the park contains fields pocked with shell-fire as well as reconstructions of WW I trenches and a small part of the tunnel system that was devised to bring men and supplies as close as possible to the front lines without being exposed to enemy fire.

A new Vimy interpretive centre was officially opened by the delegation, which included Dominion Vice-President Ralph Annis representing The Royal Canadian Legion. The centre uses pictures, maps, artifacts, sound and screen in a five-part display that is designed to envelop visitors in the Vimy of 1917.

Two WW I veterans in the delegation were very special visitors. One was Stephen Mew, 103, who now lives at the Perley and Rideau Veterans Health Centre in Ottawa. As a member of a Canadian machine-gun battalion, he was positioned below the ridge during the epic battle. His memories of WW I include one chum whom he kidded about being too tall for trench warfare. Sadly, one day the chum stood up straight in a trench and was fatally wounded by a sniper.

The other WW I veteran was Jesse Brinson who lives at the Western Newfoundland Veterans Pavilion in Corner Brook. He signed up at 17 years of age and the war ended before he could be sent overseas. Now one of the few surviving WW I veterans of the Newfoundland Regt., he says: “I got nobody to tell anything to. I’m all alone.”

A common thread at both Vimy and Beaumont Hamel was the emphasis placed on the nation’s obligation to remember. At Beaumont Hamel, Mifflin, said: “This plaque carries another message. These soldiers’ lives were not taken in vain so long as the youth of today take up their torch and continue to carry it aloft in defence of freedom. To do that they must first learn what their forefathers accomplished and never forget it.”

Dr. Alway of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board stressed the importance of youth in the official commemoration of our wartime experiences, noting: “It was youth that was called to war and it is youth that must carry on the remembrance.”

Carry on Mike Rozsko of Edmonton did. The senior poetry winner in the Legion’s 1996 literary contest was one of four youth representatives in the delegation. He spoke at Vimy:

“During December of 1996, a friend and I were the unfortunate victims of a gang-related assault in a West Edmonton Mall parking lot. My friend lost some teeth and I lost some blood–pretty trivial when I think of how much blood was shed on these fields around me. But, nonetheless, that was as close as I am ever likely to get to experiencing anything even remotely resembling the horror of actual combat. Why? Because incredible young men…took bullets and suffered through unimaginable levels of fatigue and pain to ensure that my freedom would not be a dream, but a fact of life.”

Noting he is proud of his heritage and the men who defined it with their courage, Rozsko said: “I feel an overwhelming sense of respect and awe towards them.” The bravery demonstrated by Canadians and Newfoundlanders is a rare and amazing thing, he said, concluding: “Although I am almost 70 years removed from the events of their hardship and sacrifice, I am 18 years a testament to their accomplishment.”