Newfoundland Spirit

 Sunday we bid adieu to Honfleur and drove off to see the Newfoundland Beaumont-Hamel memorial from World War I. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive. The French roadway system is so good and so far, the drivers have all been very polite and cooperative, so it’s made the driving pretty seamless. Every once in awhile the GPS throws us for a bit of a loop, urging us to turn “half-right” when there is nowhere to turn at all, but it, or we, eventually right ourselves. Stories I am sure many of you have. 

This memorial actually is located on the battlefield and it was in a beautiful very treed area. There are several cemeteries on the site. The Canadian government operates this site so we had students giving us tours again. This batch of young Canadians were equally enthusiastic and polite. The Welcome Centre at each of the battlefield sites across France really do make you feel welcome. 

Newfoundlanders volunteered to serve in the war with the British forces because Newfoundland was not yet a part of Canada. Many many Newfoundland soldiers lost their life in this war and the memorial pays tribute to them. Almost every street in St. John’s, Newfoundland was affected by the loss of life of one of their young soldiers. There is a plaque that lists the names of all of the towns that had someone whose service ended with loss. When you stop and think about the reality of how common loss was, it is heartbreaking. Newfoundland’s population was small to begin with and the First World War made the population change so significant. There were even five people with the last name of King, though as far as we know, unrelated to us. 

The tour guide gave us a good background to this particular battle and showed us the three different types of trenches used during World War I. Currently the land is very hilly as the trenches dug by the soldiers had to be a certain height front and back. The soldiers were only able to advance 90 metres before they met their fate and when you see it in person, it’s such a short distance apart between the firing line and the point of contact with the Germans. 

We were invited  to tag along on a tour for a family who were the grandchildren of a Newfoundland soldier who served in Vimy. An archaeologist found evidence of his presence in a cave near Vimy and contacted the family and they got to go for a private tour of the cave. Evidently there are a lot of German bunkers still under the ground at the Newfoundland Beaumont-Hamel site but the archaeologists still haven’t been able to find them. This gentleman is one of the men dedicated to uncovering the bunkers. 

The caribou is the symbol of the regiment from Newfoundland.
This is a memorial statue honouring the Newfoundlanders. 

A tree-lined lane next to the battlefield.
All of the trees had been shelled during the War but their majestic beauty has returned.