2024 Battlefield Tour

Brook G. Bangsboll, Director of Communications
Canadian Battlefield Foundation

It was Sunday, June 16th, 2024, day number 9 of our 15-day battlefield tour sponsored by the Canadian Battlefield Foundation (CBF). For over 25 years, the CBF has annually sponsored Canadian university student trips to Europe for World War I and World War II battlefield tours. It’s early-afternoon and we are on our bus travelling from Ypres, Belgium to Vimy Ridge (Aras) France – to arguably the most hallowed ground in Europe for Canadians. The students, usually quite talkative (loud) are noticeably subdued – each anxious to see for themselves, this place called Vimy Ridge – where Canada became a nation through the crucible of war. As our highway cruiser navigates the winding roads of the French countryside, I check my phone and saw that I had received a text message from both of my children asking me how the tour was going and wishing me a happy Fathers Day. I look at my watch and note the hour and thought to myself, as a proud father – my daughter, who is completing her master’s degree at the University of Calgary is up very early on a Sunday…good girl!

I look across the aisle of the bus to the CBF’s Tour 2024 Team Leader – Professor Graham Broad of King’s College, Western University. A brilliant historian with a keen wit and a passion for education and a clear love of academia. The students on this tour, most have just met him a week earlier, clearly admire and respect him. Professor Broad is a friendly, inclusive person with an engaging nature that allows the students to break through the usual awkwardness of a new student – professor relationship.

Thinking how much I miss my two, grown children on this Father’s Day, I lean over to Professor Broad and ask if he has any children. He smiles, and says “no, my wife, who is also a university professor, and I seem to be too busy with our academic careers to be able to commit to raising a family.” He removes his glasses and glances over his shoulder and smiles as he scans the bus-load of students seated behind us and says: “I guess you could say that these are my children,…I get a new batch of them every semester – they’re incredible”. I can tell that he is very sincere with that sentiment…he truly cares for his students and their academic objectives.

I had met-up with the CBF Tour 2024 group (twelve university students from across Canada and their two Professors, Graham Broad and Alex Souchen) in London, England a week earlier. They had all flown together on a flight from Toronto. I had arrived in London the day before, after taking the ferry over from Normandy, France. I had spent the previous week as part of the Canadian Battlefield Foundation’s four-person team attending and hosting some of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day memorial services in and around Caen, France 3-7 June 2024. It was an experience I will never forget – a huge life “bucket list” item for this veteran.

The BFC Battlefield Tour 2024 itinerary was an aggressive one, and one out of it’s traditional routine. Given that 2024 is the 100th anniversary year of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the first week of this year’s tour was concentrated in and around London, England to visit some of the most-historic sites relating to the RAF and the Canadian’s who fought in the air war over England, Europe and North Africa during World War II. The CBF Tour visiting sites such as: The RAF and Battle of Britain Memorials, Winston Churchill’s WWII Command Bunker, The Imperial War Museum, RAF Bomber Command and Fighter Command Operations Centres and numerous, and profoundly moving, Commonwealth Cemeteries and memorial gardens.

I should make it clear that these tours are not about “site-seeing,” on vacation, these battlefield tours are about learning and experiencing and sharing of ideas and thoughts about profoundly important historical events. In addition to all of the pre-trip reading material that the students needed to review, at each of the many tour stops, Professor Broad and Professor Souchen would provide detailed descriptions of the historical places and/or persons of interest, their relevance to the strategic picture of the world wars along with the military and social impact of those world events. But their audience was not “just a group of regular students on a prolonged field trip”; for the most part, the students are all Masters or PhD level academics, extremely knowledgeable about history in general and in particular, about both the World Wars. Some students have concentrated their studies on a particular area of expertise from and degree thesis, such as: Canadian contribution to the RAF Radar Operations during WWII, Army Reconnaissance Operations of WWII, the Medical Corps / Women Nurses on the Battle Front in WWI, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), and the Canadian Artillery Corps, to name just a few.

The twelve students on this year’s CBF battlefield tour, came from across Canada – Victoria, Calgary, Regina, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston and Quebec City. Some had work and travel experience, while others had only known academic life and had never been outside of Canada before. All this was quite expected, however, what was unexpected was how quickly the diverse tour group had formed its social bonds…not in cliques, based upon which university they attended nor by gender or even their particular field of study – no, by the end of our first full day together, which involved a marathon walking tour in London, the group was a laughing troop of young people, with brilliant minds on a fascinating adventure from which great personal and collective experiences would be had, raw emotions felt and shared. They were making the most of this amazing opportunity.

As a military veteran myself, with a tremendously rewarding, thirty-five year career with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and a master’s degree in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada, I was quite confident that I could contribute to the academic discussions and even augment some of Professor Broad and Souchen’s briefings to help convey some of the historical accounts of Canada’s participation in the two World Wars and add some of my personal, career experiences for the benefit of the student. To my great, and pleasant surprise, I found it very challenging to present a military historical fact or operational concept that the students did not already know and/or have an interesting opinion about. In fact, on most occasions, the students would add many additional facts, figures and even counterarguments that were quite compelling. They were very impressive – the CBF application vetting process seemed to have worked and worked very well. Clearly, these students were not just along for the ride…and I needed to keep on my toes…

As part of the educational program of the CBF Tour, students were asked to do research and make a presentation about a Canadian service person of their choice from either WWI or WWII. All of the presentations were incredibly moving, especially the ones where we were standing in the cemetery in which the subject of the talk lay at rest only steps away. “I’m sorry for losing my composure” one student said to me, as I was the official reporter on the tour, “I did not expect to feel such an overwhelming rush of emotions, but standing here, beside this headstone, amongst so many more of the great fallen, I just could not contain my emotions.”

Lieutenant Jack Gemmil, an RMC graduate, currently serving with the Royal Canadian Artillery, stationed at CBF Valcartier, QC and a master’s student in War Studies through RMC, gave a spontaneous presentation at Point 67, outside of Caen. Here at Point 67, in June 1944, Captain Brit Smith of the Royal Canadian Artillery displayed heroic leadership and stalworth bravery. Captain Smith was an Artillery Officer assigned as a Forward Observation Officer (FOO) attached to the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. Captain Smith was awarded the Military Medal for his leadership and technical expertise during the D-Day campaign. Jack’s obvious pride at having a regimental connection to such a Canadian hero was evident to all of us.

This trip was clearly very personal for Ram; it allowed him to retrace his great-grandparents and grandparents’ footsteps and understand their stories and experiences from the Second World War and the post-war ramifications…“I do not come from a wealthy family and have not left North America in 17 years. I cannot express how grateful I am for being selected to go on this trip as it allowed me to see Europe, connect with my family history, see significant historic sites and pay homage to the fallen.”

As we were boarding our bus one morning, during the second week of the tour, just outside Bayeaux, France, Professor Broad pulled me aside and mentioned that one of our students, Benjamin (Ben) Buchanan’s convocation ceremony at King’s College, University of Western Ontario was to be held that evening. “It’s a shame he’ll miss his own convocation” said Professor Broad. Ben had been so excited about being accepted for the Canadian Battlefield Foundation’s Student Tour 2024 that he chose to forego his formal academic convocation in lieu of participating in the CBF battlefield tour. Soon after learning of Ben’s situation, the creative minds of the CBF Tour ’24 staff and students (less Ben Buchanan of course) began to formulate a plan to address Ben’s unique situation. Following dinner that evening, Ben was summoned to the Moulin Moran courtyard (formally a quaint French mill, now converted into a lovely countryside Bed & Breakfast). In the picturesque courtyard, all of the other students, staff and even the eight other guests of the Moulin Moran hotel who we had just met had gathered and were waiting. Ben, at first very wary of what was happening,…was he late for a team meeting, had something happened that he was not aware of?… Looking at Professor Broad, holding a scroll in his hands and what appeared to be some sort of improvised graduation cap, Ben approached the “stage.” It was then that Ben suddenly began to smile as he realized what was happening. Ben was given a graduate’s cap to put on (carefully made from a pizza box from the previous night’s dinner), the cap was adorned with a tassel made from a wheat stock (from the farm). Standing proudly with a grin from ear to ear, Ben was formally presented with an official-looking but very unofficial diploma – complete with a red seal of the University (made from a Remembrance Day poppy removed from the author’s uniform).

Within minutes of “graduating” at his own, personal convocation ceremony in Normandy, France, Ben was sending text messages with photographs (like the one above) to his friends and fellow students, who were just sitting down for the real convocation back in London, Ontario, stating: “Congratulations fellow graduates…ha-ha,…beat you to it!”

I had heard many stories about previous tours from Professor Broad, recounting some of the historical sight highlights, or humorous situations that inevitably arose during a prolonged trip. He also recounted on how he and the Canadian Battlefield Foundation kept in touch with many of our tour alumna students. This year, CBF Tour 2024 was very fortunate to meet up with Ms. Megan Hamilton, currently in the second year of her PhD in the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London. Megan had volunteered to meet and accompany the tour for two days in London, UK, helping us to navigate the city and bringing her local expertise to bear. Megan, seen here on our tour bus on our way out of London to Bomber Command Headquarters in Lincolnshire, gave a briefing to our tour on her PhD program – Training amongst the Commonwealth armies during the Second World War. Megan also arranged for the group to meet a senior curator at the Imperial War Museum. Megan’s story and willingness to help the CBF Tour 2024, clearly inspired the students and impressed the Professors and reinforced the positive experiences of the CBF Battlefield Tours for all.

A Doctoral Student at the University of Toronto, Maya Hirschman, an experienced museum curator in her own right, has a passion for studying the history of radar technology – in particular how the RAF developed it and used it to defeat the German Luftwaffe during WWII. The sound of Maya’s exclamation of: Woooo-Whoooo! echoed through the RAF Museum when she saw that the AVRO Lancaster bomber on display was a version that had the special radar dome attached to the aircraft’s belly. The CBF Tour was then treated to an impromptu briefing from Maya on the incredible technical advancements made in the field of radar during WWII.

Standing beside the entrance to the Canadian Field Hospital at Passchendaele, France, CBF Tour 2024 student Julia Stanski, from the University of Alberta, Graduate Student in History, gave a stirring presentation about the tremendous role that the Nursing Sisters played in World War One. Describing the horrors of trench warfare and the critical role that the Canadian Medical Corps and Nursing Sisters provided was extremely moving. Their, standing on the ground that Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, Canadian Physician and iconic war-time poet once stood, the words of his haunting poem “In Flanders Field” echoed across the cemetery as we took in the sites and sounds of the experience of Julia’s superb presentation.

The CBF Tour 2024 was warmly welcomed by the owner of “Canada House”, Ms. Nicole Hoffer and treated to a fascinating account of the history of her home and now D-Day museum, including an explanation of the many war-time artifacts she has on display that have been donated to her over the years by members of the Canadian Army (The Royal Regina Rifles, Queen’s Own Rifles and the Le Regiment de la Chaudiere) who liberated her home and the sea-side village of Courseulles-sur-Mer in June of 1944.

The Canadian Battlefield Foundation has a close, and special relationship with Nicole Hoffer. Stating that in a news and social media release: It is with great pleasure that the Canadian Battlefield Foundation (CBF) learned in late October 2022 that CBF vice-president (France section), Nicole Hoffer and her late husband Hervé Hoffer, the former CBF vice president of (France section), were both awarded the Meritorious service decorations. They received these decorations for their remembrance work related to the D-Day landing and for their contribution to perpetuate the Canadian legacy on the Normandy beaches.

This article could have easily been another twenty pages in length in order to convey the full, detailed account of the CBF Tour of 2024. Acknowledging that each of the twelve students and the two Professors who participated in this year’s battlefield tour have their own stories and perspectives, I hope that I have been able to provide, at least a small glimpse of the profoundly moving experience of this battlefield tour – this walk through a profoundly important and dangerous time in Canadian / world history.

This battlefield tour, and those that came in the years before and will subsequently be accomplished in the future are financed through donations raised by, organized by and conducted through the efforts of the Canadian Battlefield Foundation (CBF). The CBF is a not-for-profit organization lead by a board of directors whose passion for history, and desire to promote the remembrance of Canada’s important role during both WWI and WWII has no bounds. The CBF Board of Directors take great pride in knowing that each year, they help bring together some of the brightest, energetic young Canadian university students and offer them a chance of a lifetime – a chance to walk in the footsteps of Canadian heroes on those sacred places known as: Juno Beach, Dieppe, Passchendaele, and Vimy Ridge.

The Canadian Battlefield Foundation is currently planning the 2025 tour which will include sites visits in Holland to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by the Canadian Army. Student applications for the 2025 Battlefield tour will be accepted as of January 2025 (date TBD) through most Canadian University Homepages which will be linked to the Canadian Battlefield Foundations website.