World War Trips Available

I bet you didn't know we have a local resident that organizes group tours and getaways featuring World War locations.  Darlene Ford of Wallacetown, at my request, has provided the following information about Vimy Ridge - 100th Anniversary Tours and D-Day Tours. 

The Vimy RidgeTour is available from 5 day land tours up to 14 day tours, escorted by specialists on WWI history. Available from end of April -- mid Sept. 2017.  

If you are interested in WWII there are 5 day land tours or up to 14 days of WWII D-Day Landing Beaches & Battle of Normandy with well informed local guides as well as your escorted tour guides.  

Contact Darlene Ford at 519-762-2990 and follow Group Getaways By Farlene on Facebook by clicking here.  
A note from Darlene about her trip with husband Jim in 2016.  "We went on the Great Canadian War Memorial Tour last Sept. 2016.  Both of our Fathers fought in France, Holland & Belgium and I have an Uncle buried in Beny-sur-mer near Juno Beach were he was killed on D-Day.  His name is on the maple leaf shaped plaque on Canada House on Juno Beach. We are both changed and with great pride and respect for all men and women who served and the ones that gave their lives for our freedom which most people take for granted.  Like the old saying goes you had to be there to understand."  Darlene Ford  519-762-2990

World War Wednesdays: Vimy Ridge 100th Anniversary

A replica of the Canadian Vimy Ridge memorial carved from ice at Winterlude in Ottawa, February 2017

     As I'm sure you're all well aware, this upcoming Sunday, April 9 marks one hundred years since the start of the battle of Vimy Ridge, an iconic moment in Canadian history. As such, it has been one hundred years since Wallacetown's own Ellis Wellwood Sifton lost his young life on the ridge in a selfless act of bravery. In past years, we've looked at the battle in detail, explored the Ellis Sifton story, and reflected on past commemorations of the battle in Elgin County. This year being such a significant anniversary, I thought it would be better to encourage you all to experience, rather than read about, this centenary. I've put together a guide to commemoration events wherever I may have readers, and hope you'll all find the opportunity to participate in at least one.

Elgin County

A young Ellis Sifton at home with his dog, courtesy of Elgin County Archives

     The Elgin County Museum is hosting a special edition of its annual Vimy Lecture featuring local history buff Blair Ferguson at St. Peter's Anglican Church, Tyrconnell (where Ellis Sifton attended church), on Sunday at 11AM. Here is some further information: http://www.elgincounty.ca/museum/news/7th-annual-vimy-lecture
http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/2017/03/27/elgin-county-museum-commemorates-vimy-ridge-soldier-ellis-wellwood-sifton

General Sir Arthur Currie being knighted 

Strathroy
     The hometown of General Sir Arthur Currie is working on a wonderful project to commemorate the anniversary, which features the planting of an "honour guard" of one hundred maple trees on the east side of Adair Blvd as a living tribute to those who served. The ceremony is scheduled for Sunday beginning at 11AM with the tree planting event on April 22 at 8AM. More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vimy-100th-anniversary-commemoration-and-lgh-groundbreaking-ceremony-tickets-32591777885?aff=es2
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vimy-100th-anniversary-commemoration-and-lgh-groundbreaking-ceremony-tickets-32591777885

Chatham-Kent
     Local history buffs in Chatham-Kent have organized an anniversary ceremony to be held on Sunday at Christ Church, beginning at 2PM. Details: http://chathamvoice.com/2017/04/05/local-historians-remember-the-fallen-at-vimy-ridge-during-100th-anniversary/

Ottawa:
     An evening of remembrance and overnight vigil will be held at the National War Memorial on Saturday, April 8 starting at 7PM, followed by the official government ceremony also at the memorial on Sunday beginning at 8:30AM. Here is some more information: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/first-world-war/vimy-ridge/100-anniversary/events-in-canada

     Also, the Canadian War Museum is offering free admission on Sunday so that the public can join them in commemorating the anniversary with the unveiling of the new Vimy Ridge exhibit in Gallery 2. Find out more here: http://www.warmuseum.ca/event/gallery-2-vimy-renewal/

     I hope you'll endeavor to take in some of your area's Vimy programs, and please advise if I've missed any events or you don't see your community on the list!
     Thanks for reading,
Delany (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

World War Wednesdays: Haunting Beauty: The Canadian Vimy Ridge Memorial and Adolf Hitler

     I've been thinking a lot lately about a story I heard a few months ago at the Canadian War Museum, and thought I'd look into it this week for a post.

     Considered among the greatest war memorials ever built, the Canadian monument at Vimy Ridge in northeast France has as dramatic a history as the infamous battle it honors. Following the end of the First World War in 1918, the high escarpment at Vimy Ridge was left with ruined trees, artillery craters, and crumbling trenches which still held the remains of some of the 3,598 Canadians who died trying to capture it over four days in April 1917.

Canadians during the Battle of Vimy Ridge

     The Ridge then became one of eight battle sites in France and Belgium where Canada sought and received permission to construct memorials to in remembrance of its 66,000 fallen soldiers in the Great War. While Great Britain, South Africa, and Australia hired the same group of Commonwealth architects to design their battlefield monuments in Europe, Canada chose a different method: Ottawa announced a nationwide competition for the design of its Vimy Ridge memorial, and an undisputed winner was chosen in 1921. The daring proposal was put forward by renowned Toronto sculptor Walter Allward, whose classic South African memorial (which still stands on University Ave. in Toronto) greatly differed from the breathtaking monument he envisioned for Vimy.

     Allward said the idea for the monument was inspired by a dream he'd had during the "blackest" days of the war in which Canadian soldiers were saved by their dead comrades, who rose up in the thousands to rescue the living. The massive twin pylons symbolize both Canada and France, which tower thirty meters over a stone platform, adorned with sculpted figures symbolizing peace, mourning, and sacrifice. It took a total of twelve years to complete, all of which were supervised by Allward himself, and constructed with stone from a Croatian quarry that had also been used by the Romans in the third century. After years of public anticipation, thousands of Canadians traveled across the Atlantic by ship to attend the monument's dedication ceremony, featuring a speech by King Edward VIII. The site instantly became a popular symbol of Canada's achievements during the battle as well as a major tourist attraction.

Aerial shot of the 1936 dedication ceremony, courtesy of flickr

     However, only three years later, Europe found itself again at the threshold of another war. To calm fears about the memorial's fate as France fell under Nazi occupation, Allward revealed that he had always known the area around Vimy could once again become a battleground. "So we carved the figures of stone instead of casting them in bronze," he said at the time. "Bronze figures might be melted down for munitions". By June 1940, Canadian newspapers had begun trumpeting dramatic accounts of the monument's destruction in order to encourage public favor against the Nazis, as can be seen with the Montreal Daily Star's headline: "Vimy Memorial Smashed by Nazi Bombers," which left Canadians appalled and outraged.

     In response to these false allegations, Hitler decided to visit the Vimy Memorial himself as part of his first trip to France since the start of the war in order to prove that the statues were still intact. German newspapers published a series of photos of him and a group of Nazi officers among the white pylons and nearby trenches. As University of Ottawa historian and a great friend of mine, Dr. Serge Durflinger says, "Hitler admires it immensely. he says so at the time. As a result, the Germans respect the memorial all through the war." Regardless, Canadians were not fully convinced of the memorial's survival until after the area was recaptured by the Allies in 1944 and it was reported to be free of damage. The site remains to this day a symbol of strength and humble sacrifice, with its lack of victorious boastfulness being perhaps one of its greatest and most enduring contributing factors.

Information courtesy of Canwest News Service, 2007.

Thanks for reading,
Delany (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

World War Wednesdays: Vimy Ridge Week in Elgin County

     This Saturday, April 9 marks ninety-nine years since the battle of Vimy Ridge during the First World War. Often considered the battle where Canada came of age as a nation, it was also a significant day for Elgin County. On the first day of the battle, Wallacetown native Ellis Wellwood Sifton single-handedly eliminated a German machine gun emplacement at the cost of his own life, posthumously receiving the Victoria Cross. We reflect on his selfless act each year with pride and gratitude, and the Elgin County Museum holds an annual program to commemorate him. This year, the program will take place at the museum on Saturday at 2pm. It will feature local re-enactors and demonstrations, as well as a number of soldiers' letters to groups across the county who sent their support. In addition, Sifton's original Victoria Cross will be present for viewing, an occasion which only occurs annually on this day. More information available from the St. Thomas Times-Journal:
http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/2016/04/03/a-trip-to-vancouver-for-what-else-pizza

Ellis Sifton

     Since there have been so many years since Vimy, there have been numerous commemorations and ceremonies to observe its anniversary. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at various events in Elgin County that recognized local contributions to the battle through the years!

50th Anniversary, 1967

     This photo shows a Vimy Ridge commemorative service at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 41, St. Thomas on April 10, 1967. The ceremony was covered in the Times-Journal that day with the caption:

"Veterans of Vimy - The Battle of Vimy Ridge was commemorated in St. Thomas on Sunday with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pearl Street Cenotaph. Left to right are, front row: A. B. Ellis, Roy Palmerston, Jack Bentley, Art Cooper, Harry Marshall and A. E. Watts; second row, J. F. Pratt, George Smith, Dan Jackson, Cyril Brown, Chet Smith, Maurice Heath, M. Nicholls; third row, E. B. Martel, Bert Watson, Jim Baron, Ted Bentley and Charles McAvay; fourth row, Reg. Mayne, Ellis Walker, Art Hardy, George Tanner, Rev. Charles Cook, Louis Mann, not identified; fifth row, Bill Crocker, Alex Betterley, Ernie Mitchell, Fred Lawson and George Hambleton; sixth row, J. E. Johnson, Frank Sefton, not identified, Joe Skelding, Stan Robinson, Harvey Pettit and C. W. Ball."

60th Anniversary, 1977

Front from left: Fred Morley, Charlie Cook, Charles Slather, Clarence Silver, Fred White, Herb Tucker, Bob Watson. Rear: George Walker, Dave McKillop, Herb Watson, Tom Watts, Art Freeman, Ernie Mitchell, Max Morriss, Charlie Baldwin, George Stevenson.

The Times-Journal from April 11 of that year describes the commemorative ceremony, again held at the Legion on John Street, St. Thomas:
"For many, the Battle of Vimy Ridge is merely a date in a history book. For Fred White, it remains a very real and tangible experience. Mr. White, now a resident of Westminster Hospital in London, was among over 100 First World War veterans attending an all-day commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, held Saturday at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 41 Hall on John Street.
     Sixty years ago Saturday, Fred White was a 17 year-old private with the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The battalion was one of many massed together for the decisive Vimy Ridge encounter. 
     Looking back on the battle, Mr. White recalls the great suffering of many of the soldiers. "You didn't know whether you were going to eat today or tomorrow," he said. "You had to carry your own rations or you went hungry." 
     Mr. White was a scout and a runner for his battalion at the time of Vimy Ridge. "I had a lot of responsibility," he recalled. The details of the battle itself were harder for Mr. White to pin down. What he did have was a very clear recollection of the feeling of the battle.
     "You've got to watch out for yourself in the mud and the crap," he said. "Got to control yourself; your mind is the main thing. You had to keep your mind ahead of you; if you didn't you've had it."....
     The activities started with a memorial service, followed by movies of the war. There was a luncheon attended by local elected officials, then entertainment in the afternoon."

     These are just some of the ways in which the area has reflected upon its connections to one of the most significant events in Canadian history. How will you be recognizing this anniversary?
     Thanks for reading,
Delany Leitch (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

Information courtesy of Elgin County Archives and the St. Thomas Times-Journal.

World War Wednesdays: The Silver Cross Mother

     Attending a Remembrance Day ceremony at which a Silver Cross Mother is present adds an additional element of sorrow to the day. Your heart goes out to the lady who has lost more than you could ever imagine, and you know that there is nothing anyone could ever do to ease that pain. War has a strange way of creating sadness across so many dimensions, whether it reaches you directly or just seeing it from a distance is enough to make it real. This week, we'll discuss what it means to be a Silver Cross Mother, along with the story of Mrs. Charlotte Susan Wood, with information courtesy of veterans.gc.ca.

     Every year, the Royal Canadian Legion selects a National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother to represent the mothers of Canada at the national Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa. She will lay a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who lost children in the military service to their nation. During her year-long tenure, which begins on November 1st, she performs other official duties, as required. The Memorial Cross (usually referred to as the Silver Cross) is awarded to mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty or whose death was consequently attributed to such duty. 

     In 1936, Mrs. Charlotte Susan Wood of Winnipeg, Manitoba became known as the first National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. Mrs. Wood immigrated with part of her family from Britain to take up a 160 acre Dominion Land Grant northwest of Edmonton in 1905. Of the eleven of Mrs. Wood’s sons/stepsons that signed up to serve with either the Canadian or British army during the First World War, five did not return. 

     On September 22, 1914, her son, Petty Officer Stoker Louis Robert Wood, was lost at sea while serving with the Royal Navy, HMS Hogue.
     On June 4, 1915, a second son, Able Seaman Harry Wood, was killed at Gallipoli while serving with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
     On October 7, 1916, a third son, Private Francis Wood, was killed at the Somme while serving with the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).
     On May 5, 1917, a fourth son, Private Peter Percy Wood, was killed at Vimy Ridge while serving with the Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment).
     On November 3, 1917, a fifth son, Leading Seaman Joseph Wood, was killed at Passchendaele while serving with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

     Mrs. Wood was awarded the George V Jubilee Medal in 1935. While on a pilgrimage to attend the unveiling of the Vimy Ridge Memorial in July 1936, Mrs. Wood was presented to King Edward VIII. Seizing the opportunity she said to him, "I have just been looking at the trenches and I just can’t figure out why our boys had to go through that." He replied, “Please God, Mrs. Wood. It shall never happen again.”
     

     Canada’s famous war mother died three years later, just weeks after the start of another world war. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Winnipeg’s Brookside Cemetery. A new gravestone was erected over 60 years later.

     An incredible story of incredible loss, it is a testament to how devastating war can be on all fronts.

     Thanks for reading,
       Delany

World War Wednesdays: The Day the Greatest Country in the World Proved It

     Happy Canada Day! The day we celebrate being citizens of the greatest country in the world. How fortunate we are to have the ability to enjoy the countless freedoms afforded to us by a nation renowned for its goodwill. Of course, as we all know, this has not come without a price. Countless people have given their lives in order to uphold the significance of this day, making it well worth the recognition. One day in particular stands out when we think of Canadians making a name for themselves in times of war, and will be the topic of today's post: April 9, 1917 at the capture of Vimy Ridge.

Canadians searching captured German trenches for Germans still hiding on Vimy Ridge, April 1917
Library and Archives Canada

     At 5:30 a.m., April 9, 1917, Easter Monday, the creeping artillery barrage began to move steadily toward the Germans. Behind it advanced 20,000 soldiers of the first attacking wave of the four Canadian divisions, heavily laden with 32 kilograms of equipment per soldier. There was some hand-to-hand fighting, but the greatest resistance, and heavy Canadian losses, came from the machine-guns in the German intermediate line. Overcoming this resistance, three of the four divisions captured their part of the Ridge by midday, right on schedule. In the final stage, the 2nd Canadian Division was assisted by the British 13th Brigade, which fell under its command for the operation.

     The 4th Canadian Division's principal objective was Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the whole Ridge. Once taken, its summit would give the Canadians a commanding view of German rearward defenses in the Douai Plain as well as those remaining on the Ridge itself.

German front line from the Canadian trenches Vimy Ridge Hill 145 

     

     Because of its importance, the Germans had fortified Hill 145 with well-wired trenches and a series of deep dug-outs beneath its rear slope. The brigades of the 4th Division were hampered by fire from the Pimple, the other prominent height, which inflicted costly losses on the advancing waves of infantry. Renewed attacks were mounted using troops that were originally scheduled to attack the Pimple. Finally, in the afternoon of April 10, a fresh assault by a relieving brigade cleared the summit of Hill 145 and thus placed the whole of Vimy Ridge in Canadian hands. Two days later, units of the 10th Canadian Brigade successfully stormed the Pimple. By that time, the enemy had accepted the loss of Vimy Ridge as permanent and had pulled back more than three kilometers. Ultimately, Vimy Ridge marked the only significant success of the Allied spring offensive of 1917.
     The Canadian achievement in capturing Vimy Ridge owed its success to sound and meticulous planning and thorough preparation, all of which was aimed at minimizing casualties. But it was the splendid fighting qualities and devotion to duty of Canadian officers and soldiers on the battlefield that were decisive. Most of them citizen-soldiers, they performed like professionals.

Canadians attacked German machine-guns, the greatest obstacles to their advance, with great courage. They saved many comrades' lives as a result. Four earned the Victoria Cross for their bravery in such dangerous exploits, among them Wallacetown's own Ellis Sifton. Of these, three were earned on the opening day of the battle.

Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton of the 18th Battalion 

    The Canadian record, crowned by the achievements at Vimy, earned for Canada a separate signature on the Versailles Peace Treaty ending the war. Back home, the victory at Vimy, won by troops from every part of the country, helped unite many Canadians in pride at the courage of their citizen-soldiers, and established a feeling of real nationhood. That pride is still felt today every time we reflect upon our country's contributions in times of war. As we celebrate this great nation today, it is important to do it with gratitude for those who gave us the true reason to be proud. 

   Cheers, thanks for reading, and enjoy your Canada Day!

      Delany

Supplementary information courtesy of veterans.gc.ca.