The Citizen, 2017-05-04, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017.
FEMSS students, teachers label Vimy trip remarkable
A little Huron for Staples
A banner covered in signatures of people from Huron County and the surrounding area joined
students, graduates and teachers from F.E. Madill Secondary School during a trip to Europe
to participate in the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge last month. The banner,
which featured soldiers from Wingham who were in World War I, is shown above by the
students in Etaples Military Cemetery near the north-west coast of France. (Photo submitted)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
A group of 16 current students and
recent graduates from F.E. Madill
Secondary School, along with
teachers and some chaperones,
recently visited Europe as part of the
100th anniversary of the battle of
Vimy Ridge in France.
The travellers were part of a larger
group from the area that visited not
only the site of one of Canada's most
notable military battles, but also
several other locations in Europe
between Amsterdam, the
Netherlands and the battle site in
France.
The trip took more than a year and
a half to plan, according to
geography and history teacher
Jordan Andrew and history teacher
Dana Thiel, which is why some of
the students were on the trip who
had graduated last year.
"We landed in Amsterdam and
from there went to Belgium," said
student Carly Frank in a meeting
with The Citizen. "We stayed at a
youth hostel there and were in the
country for three nights."
The group then visited Dieppe, the
site of the unsuccessful Operation
Jubilee in World War II. The Allied
force in the raid was comprised
primarily of Canadians (5,000)
along with 1,000 British troops and
50 United States Army Rangers.
Started at 5 a.m. on August 19, 1942,
the Allied forces were forced to
retreat just under six hours later.
From Dieppe, the students crossed
the English Channel to England and
then proceeded to Vimy for the
celebration.
"The days around the celebration,
which was April 9, we kept running
into groups from Canada," Andrew
explained. "It was like some kind of
family reunion and we had to keep
explaining to the locals that we were
from different parts of Canada."
Andrew said there were 15,000
students from Canada who travelled
to Vimy Ridge, not to mention active
and former service members and
individuals with connections to the
battle and soldiers.
The group stopped at the Menin
Gate Memorial to the Missing in
Ypres, Belgium, and were part of a
special ceremony where the students
presented a wreath in memory of the
soldiers there.
The students met Canadian
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr
while at the site.
The students also participated in a
special sculpture -making art
installment in Belgium.
The installment, called Coming
World Remember Me, aims to have
600,000 spherical sculptures, one
representing each the 600,000
people who died in Belgium during
World War I. Andrew said the
sculptures are planned to be buried
at Hill 62, called Sanctuary Wood, in
Belgium in 2018.
"Each represents a person that
died in the war," Scott said. "We will
be getting information about the
people that were represented by the
statues we made."
While the Vimy Ridge celebration
was paramount, Thiel explained that
students got a lot of the other
experiences on the trip.
"A big part of the trip was the
100th anniversary," Thiel said. "But
Dieppe was a highlight. It helps
everyone to understand the sacrifices
made by Canadians."
Carmen Hamilton, a student on the
trip, said visiting sites like Dieppe
and Juno Beach really helped bring
the history to life there.
"You get perspective on what
these sites and these battles were
like," she said. "You don't realize
what was involved until you are
standing on the beaches."
Fellow student Sadie Scott agreed.
"I went on the trip to learn because
sitting in a classroom isn't the
same," she said. "It's completely
different being there."
While completely different from
an educational standpoint, Andrew
said the terrain was remarkably
similar to southwestern Ontario.
"Dieppe reminded me of the
Bruce Peninsula," Frank agreed.
Students had varying reasons for
taking the trip, Thiel explained, from
being a part of the Vimy celebration,
wanting to experience different
countries to finding the graves of
family members.
She said some students had gone
in search of relatives, however time
constraints prevented the group from
visiting many cemeteries. Students
were able to located their family,
including Pierce Dodds, who found
his great -grandpa buried in
Brookwood Cemetery in England,
and became the first member of his
family to visit the site.
"There are so many cemeteries
there," Andrew said. "You can drive
down what we would consider side
roads and there is a cemetery in
every other field."
Scott said she was interested in the
trip because her great grandpa
served in World War I.
"I went to see where his regiment
was," she said, explaining he was
stationed in several locations.
She also said she was surprised by
the cemeteries the group came
across.
"They are so well kept and
respected," she said.
Thiel agreed, saying that while it
was hard to describe, the peace and
beauty of the grave sites was
breathtaking.
Andrew said the cemeteries were
memorable, though he was most
impacted by the sheer number of
names of soldiers whose bodies were
never found.
The students also commented on
the profound experience of soldiers
from opposite sides of conflicts
being buried in some locations side
by side. They also had striking
memories of the Langemark German
Military Cemetery in Belgium
which has 25,000 soldiers in a mass
grave, 8,000 of those whose names
remain unknown. The mass grave is
small, less than two classrooms in
size, the students said.
"The losses on both sides
were staggering to realize," said
student Leanne Exel.
Imperial War Museum
Current students, recent graduates and teachers from F.E.
Madill Secondary School were among a group from Huron
County who travelled to Europe to participate in the 100th
anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge last month. The
group is shown at the Imperial War Museum in London.
One of the Madill teachers, Jordan Andrew, said the site
was amazing and, nearby, there was a monument to
Canada's involvement in conflicts across the world. (Photo
submitted)
Frank said that, after the trip, she
found out that one of her relatives
had served and was stationed at Juno
Beach.
"I found out after I got home and
that made the memories of the site a
little different for me," she said.
Having students from two
different schools also made the trip
unique Andrew said, and an
experience that paralleled the one
some soldiers from Huron would
have had first travelling overseas.
"We joined with South Huron and
while we are two schools in the same
county, we are at opposite ends," he
said. "It was a bonding experience
for our students and the students
from South Huron and we realized
that soldiers from our area likely
went through something similar.
These guys would have bonded and
got close."
Andrew said it was an interesting
counterpoint to how modern high
schools usually focus on rivalry
through sports and competition
instead of coming together. Thiel
agreed, pointing to the 161st
Battalion, or Huron Battalion, that
consisted of soldiers from across the
county coming together.
Aside from the students, teachers
and parents, residents of the area
also travelled to the site in spirit
thanks to a banner the group created
which featured a collection of
signatures.
The banner was presented at
Etaples Military Cemetery, a
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission cemetery near the
north-west coast of France. The site
holds over 11,500 grave sites from
World Wars I and II.
"Wherever we went before the
trip, we took the banner with us,"
Andrews said. "It was full of
signatures gathered at the Lucknow
Legion, the Wingham Legion, the
school and other events we were at.
We took a piece of Huron County
with us when we went."
The banner featured a photo of the
soldiers from Wingham who fought
during World War I.
While Thiel had made the trip
before, it was Andrew's first time
going, and he said, as a teacher, it
was an invaluable experience.
"The trip definitely helped with
understanding the sacrifice and
being able to teach the history of the
site, but it also helped to understand
the landscape," he said. "You can see
pictures, but until you're standing
there, looking over the site the
Germans held for so long, you might
not understand why it was such a
hard-fought battle and why it's so
amazing that the Canadians were
able to take that ridge."
The trip also included a visit to
Passchendaele, another battlefield
that Canadian soldiers were on in
World War I. The battle at the
site lasted more than three months
until Canadian Corps captured the
site.
"The landscape there really
showed what the soldiers had gone
through," he said.
The site to see
The primary reason for a group of Huron County residents,
including students, recent graduates and teachers from F.E.
Madill Secondary School, was to participate in the 100th
anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge last month. While
the students were involved with many other experiences as
part of their trip, some said seeing the number of people
who attended the ceremony around the monument they are
pictured with above will be an image that will always stay
with them. (Photo submitted)
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