CDDHS/DCMA Battlefields Tour 2013

The group had a fabulous day in Paris. They had a bus tour and then saw the local sights by foot including the Louvre, Notre Dame and Napoleon's tomb. They also visited the Eiffel Tower.


 

The students visit famous Canada House at Juno Beach
 

Bernieres sur Mer

It is here that the famous “Canada House” can be found. Testament to the fighting on D-Day, this house featured in many film clips and photos taken of the D-Day landings in June of 1944. It stands much as it did on the morning of June 6th, 1944, only the bullet holes, evident in the many pictures, having been repaired. 200 meters east lies the German strong point in front of which the assault Battalion of the Queens Own Rifles of Canada came ashore that morning and lost so many of their number in subduing. It too bears the scars of the mornings fighting and one of the bunkers still has an Allied 37mm cannon shell that was fired at it embedded in its concrete walls, the concrete paving slabs lining the road nearby showing where the Canadian tanks advanced inland, the tank tracks gouging out their mark forever on the paving stones lining the road.

Today, April 10th, the students and staff will be taking part in a ceremony at Juno Beach. 

 

Follow it live here. The link for the webcam is near the bottom of the page.
 

The Juno Beach Centre is a museum and cultural centre, which opened at Courseulles-sur-Mer, France on June 6, 2003. The Centre presents the war effort made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts during the Second World War, as well as the manifold faces of contemporary Canadian society.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage has designated the Juno Beach landing site to be a site of national historic significance to Canada.
  

Thousands of Canadian students joined the Governor General and the minister of veterans affairs in France today, April 9th, to mark the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
 

"We stand on hallowed ground — a place of agonized conflict, a site of appalling loss of life, a vessel of sorrow, a crucible of courage, a hallmark of ingenuity, collaboration and resolve undertaken by men at arms in the cause of peace," Johnston said.
 

The trip reports: "We were up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for the big day. Over 5000 Canadian students attended the 95th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. We had a 2.7 km SILENT march up the hill to one of the Canadian cemeteries at Vimy. The march was very moving as many locals came out to watch and most houses had doors and windows decorated with Canadian flags. We got to see the trenches, the Vimy Memorial and participate in the televised 95th anniversary ceremony that governor general David Johnston attended. The kids were great despite steady and sometimes heavy rain."
  

Villers Station Cemetery contains 1,208 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 32 German war graves. 
 

There are 74 Canadians buried here from the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
 

We read some paragraphs about Canadian soldiers who had died during World War I and are buried here. Afterwards students found the grave marker and left a poppy, Canadian flag and paragraph at the headstone.

We also visited a German cemetery, Hill 62 and tunnels and visited the bunkers where John McCrae of Guelph, writer of "In Flanders Fields" once fought.

 Bruges is a renaissance trading centre turned tourist town.

 

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Today we saw beautiful architecture, bought Belgium chocolate and enjoyed French fries with mayo, a local specialty. A few of us also tried the mussels.

Known as the Venice of the North, Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. UNESCO, in 2000, included the entire historical city centre on the World Heritage list. Walking along the maze of winding cobbled alleys and romantic canals takes you back to medieval times.
 
 
  

The group has had a wonderful time in Amsterdam.  

Here are some pictures of the sights they are enjoying.

The Europe trip is having a wonderful second day in Holland.

They visited Rembrandt's windmill that stands on the De Passeerde bulwark along the city wall that ran down the west side of the city of Amsterdam.
 

April 9th, 2012 marks a unique opportunity for Canadians to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge.

Many historians and writers consider the Canadian victory at Vimy a defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from under the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of the stunning success. But it was a victory at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded.

The Canadian Corps was ordered to seize Vimy Ridge in April 1917.Situated in northern France, the heavily-fortified seven-kilometre ridge held a commanding view over the Allied lines. The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard since previous French attacks had failed with over 100,000 casualties. Read more here.

Here are some links as provided by EF Canada, the tour company running the Vimy Ridge 2012 trip.

facebook.com/eftourscanada

youtube.com/eftourscanada

flickr.com/groups/eftours

http://blog.vimyridgetour.ca

eftours.ca/tourlink