Remembrance Ceremonies

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Remembrance Ceremonies at Beaumont-Hamel

November 5th

At Beaumont-Hamel and Vimy, the tradition for the Remembrance Ceremonies is to have them the weekend prior to November 11th, in order to allow more people to attend. This year, Saturday the 5th was chosen for Beaumont-Hamel’s ceremony. As workers on the site, we play a very active role during the hours prior to the ceremony and during it as well.

The role I played for the preparations was to assist my supervisor in greeting the VIPs who were invited for coffee before the ceremony. This included people such as the mayors of neighbouring towns, military men and women, ambassadors...I felt quite honoured to meet them all.

Once everyone was on site (public, VIPs and even 50 British school children who had no idea we were having our ceremony), we all took up positions near our caribou monument. The weather cooperated perfectly, the fog lifting, the rain staying away. All the guides were dressed in ceremony uniform (pants or skirts, dress shirt, tie for the boy, scarf for the girls).

Speeches were made by certain guests and then the Last Post was played. A song so simple could not resonate as more emotional for me.
Designated as wreath bearers, each guide had to carry a wreath (some of them extremely elaborate) to the right guest so that it could be laid at the base of the monument. On behalf of our team (“the Youth of Canada”) my colleague Trish and I laid the wreath.

I felt extremely proud, honoured and humbled to have been a part of this ceremony at Beaumont-Hamel. Remembrance Day has taken a whole new meaning for me since starting work here in the Somme.

After the ceremony, I was approached by a visitor: an American tourist that had followed my tour earlier in the week, back for the ceremony. She gave me a hug, congratulated me on looking so professional during the ceremony and told me to tell my mom how special I was. Strange words, but nonetheless, a compliment I will never forget. She was so genuinely happy to have had the occasion to be present on the site – it was truly touching.

November 11th

Even though we had already had our ceremony on Saturday, we evidently had one on the 11th as well, for those visitors who would come to the site to commemorate the fallen. For this ceremony, we had 115 Canadian forces members and their families come to our site to lead the procedures. Making our job very easy, we simply had to greet them and be at their disposal to answer questions.

I was chosen to give a tour to the “command group” consisting of 3 of the higher ranking military men. I had very little time to give them a tour of the site before the ceremony. The fog made it very difficult to see the site as we normally do, but it set the right mood. I managed to get them to see the battlefield and monument before we had to get back to prepare for the parade. They were very affected by the story of the Newfoundlanders here at Beaumont-Hamel.

Once the ceremony was underway, it was so personal and simple – perfectly fitting for a site like ours. Three children read poems written at school, the last post was heard and the minutes of silence observed. Much like on Saturday, the honour of being present and participating in this moment was shared for us guides.

After the ceremony, as per proper protocol, I removed my own poppy and laid it by the monument.

Though the Remembrance week is now over, the wreaths are still on our monument, visible to any visitor that has come by since. It serves as a great reminder for us all, that although we chose one day a year to remember the men in ceremonies, every day is an occasion to thank them for their courage and remember the sacrifice of the fallen.
Yesterday, November 13th, was on our site another occasion to remember. It marked the 95th anniversary of the 51st (Highland) Division’s actions on our site. Although their advance was a success, they lost many men as well. A special thought for them this week.

As I have no pictures from the ceremony, I will instead post pictures of the site's appearance over the last few weeks, with the beautiful fall colours.

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Photos

Maple Avenue
A view from our 3rd cemetary (Hawthorne Cemetary No. 2) towards the caribou. To me, this is the most beautiful spot on site.