Powerful - Vimy Ridge France

Road leading to Vimy Ridge monument in France

Walking through an alley of tall deciduous trees, dripping with bone-chilling condensed fog, we realized we were momentarily lost - unable to find the massive World War I, Vimy Ridge memorial.  Muffled voices came from our left, and we turned our heads as the mist cleared slightly showing the outline of the huge structure. 

It is a stunning sight.



Peering through the fog at the 88 foot tall monument


Rising 27 meters (88 feet) above the base, the towering pylons contain almost 6,000 metric tonnes of glowing white limestone brought to the site from an abandoned Roman quarry on the Adriatic Sea.

Designed by Canadian sculptor and architect Walter Seymour Allward, the monument took eleven years to build. The huge figures were carved on site from blocks of stone.

Walking around the monument we were both suddenly very quiet, somber.  Lightly running a finger over the names carved into the limestone - of 11,825 Canadian soldiers and service personal missing in action in France - I felt a sense of great loss and sadness. 

Altogether, more than 66,000 Canadians died in the First World War 1914 to 1918 when the total Canadian population in 1916 was slightly less than 8 million.  Our young country lost over 8% of its population, predominately its young men during the war.  It was a very heavy price to pay.

11,825 names of Canadians missing - 1914 to 1918

Lawrie remembers as a child - Auntie Mac - a good friend of his grandmother's who had been a battlefield nurse at Vimy. 

Her husband Bruce Davidson fought at Vimy Ridge.  They both survived - with vivid memories of the horrific conditions of trench warfare.  Memories that dramatically shaped their lives. 

I don't have any personal memories of friends or family members who were involved in "The Great War" but we both felt a certain need to visit the memorial, to pay our respects to the dead. 

It is a very powerful experience.

Some of the trenches at Vimy Ridge.