Canadian Commemoration - Ypres

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Wow - I am not really sure where to begin - today was such a full day - full of incredible experiences, and no doubt, amazing memories.

We started our day at the Hooge Crater Museum and cemetery. This was our first taste of the realities of war and walking amongst the white tombstones really hit home with many of us. The cemetery (as they all do) has soldiers from many countries buried....they were buried where they died. I found a Canadian from Toronto. After Hooge we went to Hill 62 - a ridge that the Canadians used to defend the Ypres Salient in 1916. There is a memorial there to honour the Canadians. The Tyne Cot Cemetery was another moving visit to honour the fallen - many Canadians. Mr. Wotherspoon's great, great, uncle is buried here - Mr. W is full of incredible stories and memories and it was very special to share this visit with him. We then moved on to the Passchendaele Museum, dugout and trenches. The recreation of life in the dugout and trenches really makes you realize the sacrifice of the soldiers. Our final stop, before heading into Ypres, was at the Essex Cemetery - where John McRae - was a field doctor in the area, if a soldier died, they were buried in Essex. Flander's Fields were, at first, just some of McRae's reflections until they were discovered later on and became famous as propaganda for the allies not to give up. We met some young Canadians - in Paris working as nannies, who were very glad to see fellow Canadians. One girl was from Ottawa and was truly moved when the choir sang 'In Flander's Fields' at the edge of the cemetery.

We made it to Ypres and in for dinner we went. We celebrated Ian McBurney's and Mark Richardson's birthday - Dr. Boyes presented them with books about Flander's Fields. We had kept crossing paths with a Scout Troop from a region northeast of London all day long and they ended up in the restaurant too. They were pretty interested in the boys and were interested in other kids who were doing the commemorative tour. In the end, the groups exchanged songs, poppies and Canadian pins. One of the troop leaders had Toronto connections.

Our evening performance - at Menin Gate in Ypres was beautiful and moving. We were amongst a military band, bugle brigade, violinist, flag procession, piper and many dignitaries. The boys represented themselves and the school very well and garnered lots of attention afterward from many of the dignitaries and general public - by the way there were 3000 people at the service!

We have lots of pictures and videos to share - we have all promised to create a dropbox to build a trip collection so not a moment will be missed but the uploading of pics with this wifi is tricky - so you will have to wait for some images! Tomorrow is a free day - I'll have to hunt down some guest bloggers so they can share their stories!

Trish

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Comments

[GrandmaWills]

Great Experience for the Boys
This is an amazing experience for the boys to entertain 3000 people and exchange songs and pins etc. they will talk about this for years to come.