Europe 2012 - Vimy Ridge Updates

The group had a fabulous day in Paris. They had a bus tour and then saw the local sights by foot including the Louvre, Notre Dame and Napoleon's tomb. They also visited the Eiffel Tower.


 

The students visit famous Canada House at Juno Beach
 

Bernieres sur Mer

It is here that the famous “Canada House” can be found. Testament to the fighting on D-Day, this house featured in many film clips and photos taken of the D-Day landings in June of 1944. It stands much as it did on the morning of June 6th, 1944, only the bullet holes, evident in the many pictures, having been repaired. 200 meters east lies the German strong point in front of which the assault Battalion of the Queens Own Rifles of Canada came ashore that morning and lost so many of their number in subduing. It too bears the scars of the mornings fighting and one of the bunkers still has an Allied 37mm cannon shell that was fired at it embedded in its concrete walls, the concrete paving slabs lining the road nearby showing where the Canadian tanks advanced inland, the tank tracks gouging out their mark forever on the paving stones lining the road.

Today, April 10th, the students and staff will be taking part in a ceremony at Juno Beach. 

 

Follow it live here. The link for the webcam is near the bottom of the page.
 

The Juno Beach Centre is a museum and cultural centre, which opened at Courseulles-sur-Mer, France on June 6, 2003. The Centre presents the war effort made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts during the Second World War, as well as the manifold faces of contemporary Canadian society.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage has designated the Juno Beach landing site to be a site of national historic significance to Canada.
  

Thousands of Canadian students joined the Governor General and the minister of veterans affairs in France today, April 9th, to mark the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
 

"We stand on hallowed ground — a place of agonized conflict, a site of appalling loss of life, a vessel of sorrow, a crucible of courage, a hallmark of ingenuity, collaboration and resolve undertaken by men at arms in the cause of peace," Johnston said.
 

The trip reports: "We were up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for the big day. Over 5000 Canadian students attended the 95th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. We had a 2.7 km SILENT march up the hill to one of the Canadian cemeteries at Vimy. The march was very moving as many locals came out to watch and most houses had doors and windows decorated with Canadian flags. We got to see the trenches, the Vimy Memorial and participate in the televised 95th anniversary ceremony that governor general David Johnston attended. The kids were great despite steady and sometimes heavy rain."
  

Villers Station Cemetery contains 1,208 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 32 German war graves. 
 

There are 74 Canadians buried here from the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
 

We read some paragraphs about Canadian soldiers who had died during World War I and are buried here. Afterwards students found the grave marker and left a poppy, Canadian flag and paragraph at the headstone.

We also visited a German cemetery, Hill 62 and tunnels and visited the bunkers where John McCrae of Guelph, writer of "In Flanders Fields" once fought.

 Bruges is a renaissance trading centre turned tourist town.

 

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Today we saw beautiful architecture, bought Belgium chocolate and enjoyed French fries with mayo, a local specialty. A few of us also tried the mussels.

Known as the Venice of the North, Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. UNESCO, in 2000, included the entire historical city centre on the World Heritage list. Walking along the maze of winding cobbled alleys and romantic canals takes you back to medieval times.