Student Tour Blog

Written by Drew Carter

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a site that holds a profoundly personal place in my heart. My great-grandfather, Wallace Frail, fought at Hill 145 with the 42nd Battalion (Black Watch), part of the 3rd Canadian Division. On the first day of the assault, he was shot through the hip. Because of the severity of his wound, Wallace was evacuated to England. While recovering, he met my great-grandmother. In a very real sense, I owe my existence to Vimy Ridge.

One hundred and eight years after Wallace shed blood on French soil, I had the priviledge of once again walking in his footsteps – tracing the path he and his unit took through the Grange Tunnel system on 9 April 1917. I thought my connection to this site, anchored in ancestry, could go no deeper.

Yet over time, my bond with Vimy has grown beyond lineage. I have had the fortune to serve here twice as a guide, sharing its stories, secrets, and sacrifices with others. Today, thought, was different. I returned not as an interpreter, but as a keeper of memory – one who came to honour not only family, but also someone I have come to know thanks to the Canadian Battlefields Foundation: Corporal Murray “Jack” Welsh, D.C.M., of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Murray, just 28 years old and a native of Kincardine, Ontario, was killed on 20 March 1918 at Moreuil Wood. The butcher-turned soldier has no known grave and left behind his loving parents, Matthew and Christina Welsh. He died on horseback – and so I left a horseshoe at the base of the monument in his honour.

There are ties we are born into, and others we choose to carry. Today, I carried both.