On the Western Front

Though it was a little frosty and cold, the sun was shining this morning as we boarded our buses and headed for Vimy Ridge.  Vimy was the site of the Canadian advance on the German front in April of 1917.  When we arrived we took an opportunity to present each student with a commemorative medallion marking this historic battle in the history of Canada.  These medallions were provided by EF Tours.  After the presentation of the medals, the students explored the grounds around the monument before we joined together in singing our national anthem.  We then were toured through the tunnels beneath the ridge as well as some preserved German and Canadian trenches on the property.  Some students commented that textbooks cannot truly prepare you for what you're actually seeing and that it was good to experience a bit of the reality of war.
Some of us enjoyed the scenery as we drove to Beaumont-Hamel while others caught up on a little bit of sleep.  Although there was much construction around the memorial, we were still able get a glimpse of the battlefield where Newfoundlanders fought and died during the first fight of the battle of the Somme in July 1916.  It was shocking to learn that 86% of the Newfoundlanders died during the attack.  After a baguette lunch, we went to the Lochnagar Crater and the German WWI cemetery near Fricourt.  A three hour bus ride to the coast was next on the agenda to take us to our dinner in Trouville and our hotel in Deauville.  During our bus rides we learned some marching songs from WWI from our wonderful tour leaders: Barry and Kathie.  One goes as follows:

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.  Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, well boy that's the style.  What's the use of hurrying, it never was worthwhile.  So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile."