Written By Alan Good
TRAVEL - A change from the usual, instead of traveling myself, we visited the Legion in Ailsa Craig on Wednesday April 15, to view two presentations about World War II.
The first, from Kylie Gratton, who is from Strathroy currently and completed a four-year course for teaching. Her “experiential trip” took us on a journey through Normandy and Europe. Her excursion was partially paid for by the local legion.
Starting in France, with twenty other students, Gratton visited a small town that although didn’t witness the war firsthand, was where a hospital took care of Canadian soldiers. Through the trip, Kylie said she was “impacted” by the number of gravesites.
She then went to Juno Beach in Normandy. Her pictures showed remnants of roads build to assist soldiers get off the beach. Gratton was again impressed that they had been left untouched for the world to see.
Next, Canada House was viewed. Its history is that this was the first home liberated. Ancestors of the original family are said to still live in the house and talked with the visitors. Bullet holes could be seen in the walls.
The group toured Bény-sur-Mer, a former German stronghold used to fend off Canadian attackers. There, thousands more graves created an impact on the visitors. Kylie saw drawings and writings from many local school children adorning graves. Inscriptions and information on soldiers also made an impression.
Ardenne Abbey holds a commemoration for 20 Canadian soldiers executed by Germans. Bones had been discovered by a woman gardening and the site made into another memorial of sorts.
Kylie wrote a biography about her great grandmother’s brother who fought in the first world war. John Westley was remembered in it for his bravery as well as “a son, a brother, and a human being”. Soldiers were buried where they died, and Gratton witnessed his gravesite among fifty other Canadian soldiers.
The monument at Vimmy Ridge was observed next. The names of many soldiers who fell but whose bodies where not found are inscribed here, and is a “massive” structure, she impassioned.
Perhaps a few scary moments, on the trip they uncovered a shell that was “potentially dangerous”. They also ventured underground through tunnels, which had been preserved from time’s destruction, where soldiers slept and held German prisoners.
The number of monuments impressed Gratton who discussed commemorations and monuments as people remember events. The most imported lesson for Kylie was that “wars don’t just take lives, they took identities”.
Next edition, we’ll hear from Dini Twynstra on her childhood growing up in Holland in WWII.
