Student Tour Blog

Written by Brandon Glazebrook

With the end of the trip sadly approaching, we spent June 10th continuing to work our way into the French countryside, tracing how the Allied forces worked their way inwards from the coast through the summer of 1944. The last days of the trip focused on how the Allies worked to capture Falaise and to close the so-called Falaise Gap that the Germans were escaping through.

Denver gave a wonderful presentation at Hill 67 about the regiment that she studies, Le Régiment de Maisonneuve. Emma gave an excellent solider presentation later that day at Bretteville sur Laize Canadian War Cemetery on Simon Bergen and Denver gave a second presentation that day too, this time on a soldier from the Maisonneuve named Avila Desautels. It was fun (well, as much fun as you can have in a cemetery) to help Denver find Maisonneuve graves. She found the grave of Private Herve Plante and later that day showed me his war record, revealing that Plante, at only 21 years old, was “a solicitor for prostitutes” and “led a pretty rotten life.” It was really engaging to discuss some of these soldiers as individual people with someone who knows and cares so much about them!

Bretteville-sur-Laize became one of my favourite cemeteries from the trip, partly because of how Denver brought the Maisonneuve to life, but also because it had some of my very favourite inscriptions. Recording and sharing inscriptions became a beloved activity for Hannah and I. Here are a few standouts from that day:

IN SILENT THOUGHT

AN OFT REPEATED NAME

A GOLDEN MEMORY

A SMILE IN A FRAME

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IN MEMORY’S GARDEN

WE MEET EVERY DAY.

LOVING WIFE

AND DAUGHTER JOAN

–

TO THE WORLD HE WAS ONLY ONE.

BUT TO US

HE WAS ALL THE WORLD.

MOTHER. DAD AND BETTY

–

HIS MEMORY IS AS DEAR TODAY

AS IN THE HOUR HE PASSED AWAY.

–

Getting to share these moments with my fellow students has been one of the absolute greatest privileges of my life. There have been far too many precious moments with each person on our trip for me to name them all, but I’ll always remember and appreciate the insightful discussions and stands led by the professors – especially Nick’s care to always bring my attention to details and locations related to my great-grandfather.

Wandering everywhere, from cemeteries to battlefields to quaint country roads to the streets of Paris, with my trip mates and new friends has been an extraordinary experience that I still can’t believe I had the opportunity to be a part of. Whether it was luring a cat back to the Chavasse Farm with Renee and Denver or splitting a massive seafood dinner with Landon and Hannah or torturing the entire front half of the tour bus with our music and singing, the trip was unbelievable and unforgettable from beginning to end. I can only hope that many of these bonds last a lifetime, but, even if they don’t, I’m grateful to have forged them at all.

-Brandon Glazebrook (University of New Brunswick)