In Depth
Vimy Ridge remembered
What Vimy Ridge Means to Me
Regina student's thoughts about war in advance of school trip
Last Updated March 30, 2007
by Alana Watson
Alana Watson
Alana Watson is a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School in Regina. She's one of a group of students and teachers from Regina's high schools travelling to Europe this Easter to visit Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach and other historical battlefields.
Like most teens my age, Easter morning is very important to me. Easter morning means no school, little homework, and chocolates hidden throughout the house.
Easter is when the new year really starts and things have just begun to turn green. This year, though, there will be no chocolates or sleeping late. This year my attitude toward Easter has changed completely.
This April, I will be travelling to Belgium and France with a group of high school students from Regina Catholic Schools. We will tour battlefields and stop at cemeteries and memorials. Easter Monday we will stand in the fields surrounding the Vimy Ridge Memorial for the 90th anniversary ceremony. It will surely be a life-changing experience.
Today, with people so swept up in their world of cellphones and BlackBerries and internet, remembering seems to be a huge chore. People are too focused on moving forward to remember where they came from. A teacher of mine once told me, "Don't be afraid of making mistakes, that's how we learn. Just make sure not to make that same mistake again."
The only problem is, we can't learn from our mistakes unless we remember what they were.
After the First World War, as life started to return to some kind of normalcy, the war became something of the past. It became history, and people forgot their mistakes. Hitler emerged in Germany and charmed the world, but still, we did not remember. And before we realized it, the world was at war again.
Vimy Ridge showed the world just who Canada was. Our troops displayed ingenuity, persistence, and patience and succeeded where England and France could not. That day our soldiers said to the world, "We are Canada. This is who we are." Thanks to those soldiers, today I can hold my head high because I am Canadian and I am proud.
The battle of Vimy Ridge may not have been a largely important battle for the war, but it was the first battle Canada fought by itself. Not only that, it was a victory, and a victory where others had failed. It was our moment to shine and shine we did. People say a nation was born that day. That battle put us on the map; it was a great influence in Canada's becoming an autonomous nation.
So this Easter Monday I will not be thinking of chocolates, but of another kind of gift: freedom. This Easter Monday I will stand a little straighter and I will pay my respects to those who died for our country because I remember and I am proud.
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RELATED
CBC Links
Photo Galleries
CBC stories
- Last veteran of Vimy Ridge battle dies
- (March 5, 2003)
- Britain loans Canada Red Ensign carried by Canadians at Vimy Ridge
- (July 17, 2002)
- Canadian youth remember Vimy Ridge
- (April 8, 2002)
- WWI shells force evacuation of Vimy
- (April 14, 2001)
- Remains of Unknown Soldier coming home
- (Nov. 10, 2000)
- Long lost soldier put to rest at Vimy Ridge
- (June 24, 2000)
- Search CBC.ca for Vimy Ridge
CBC archives
- The First World War: Canada Remembers
- CBC/NFB A People's History: 'Pride at Vimy Ridge'
- AUDIO: 1936 radio broadcast: Vimy Ridge Memorial unveiled by King Edward VIII (Runs 5:02)
External Links
- Silent Newsreel: 'Canadians Capture Vimy'
- National Archives of Canada "We Were There"
- Jack Turner Photography Collection
- Veterans' Affairs Canada: Vimy
- Vimy Memorial Vigil project
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