Rededication of the Vimy Memorial monument.

[dennilfloss]

Just finished watching the ceremony in which Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen Of Canada, rededicated this magnificent monument on Canadian soil in France.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge marked the beginning of Canadian sovereignty, the first time all four Canadian divisions fought as one Canadian army under Canadian command. Canadians showed great courage (four Victoria crosses were awarded) and ingenuity (sound locators were used for the first time to triangulate the position of German artillery before the battle so that precision fire could be used against them in the opening stages of the battle) in overtaking what was considered an impregnable position.

From a symbol of despair after several futile and costly attacks by the French & British, Vimy Ridge became a symbol of hope that the stalemate of trench warfare could be broken and that the Allies might win in the end.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge

http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/vimy/index_e.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/vimy/

The monument is awesome in its grandeur and sober beauty, a testament to the vision of sculptor and architect Walter Allward.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/content/feature/vimyrestore/images/vimy4_l.jpg

http://www.epspipeband.ca/IMAGES/Juno%202003/IM000726.JPG

I dreamed I was in a great battlefield. I saw our men going in by the thousands and being mowed down by the sickles of death . . . Suddenly . . . I saw thousands marching to the aid of our armies. They were the dead. . . . Without the dead we were helpless. So I have tried to show this in this monument to Canada?s fallen, what we owed them and we will forever owe them.

? Walter Allward, 1921


http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/firstwar/vimy/vimy7

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub....em/Vimy&CFID=13007852&CFTOKEN=53557467

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupRen...Page.asp?GroupID=9702&ResourceId=62065

The striking memorial features a 30-tonne limestone figure carved from a single block, a hooded figure representing Canada herself, gazing down on a single tomb overlooking the Douai plain.

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial7.jpg

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial2.jpg

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/content/feature/vimyrestore/images/vimy5_l.jpg

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial5.jpg

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial6.jpg

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial4.jpg

http://perso.orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/v/vimymemorial3.jpg

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.

 

[meltdown75]

and

to the families of the 6 Canadians killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

 

[dennilfloss]

Another link with several broadband videos.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s...20070402/vimy_90years_070402/20070403/