Student Tour Blog

Written by Landon Munnings

Today was easily the most memorable day of the trip so far. We began at Notre-Dame De Lorette, where the size of the cemetery was overwhelming. I found it personally difficult to comprehend when looking across the hillside at the cemetery and seeing just how many French graves marked with small crosses there were. Seeing the graves made what I have previously learned about in books and lectures something tangible and truly human that I have never experienced before.

The highlight of the day, however, was visiting Vimy Ridge. No amount of photos can truly prepare you for the size of the memorial or the beauty of the landscape surrounding it. Standing beneath the monument and looking across the battlefield made it easy to understand why Vimy has become both a crucial part of Canadian memory and a key Canadian pilgrimage. One detail that caught my attention was seeing Walter Allward’s name carved into the base of the memorial. Of course, Allward’s role as the designer/architect of Vimy is well known. However, seeing his name displayed at the base of the left pillar in the centre of the memorial felt somewhat strange. The monument is meant to commemorate sacrifice and loss for soldiers with no known graves, however, when I saw his name, my attention was taken away from those being remembered toward the single individual who created the memorial.

Later in the day, we visited the Hill 70 Memorial. During our discussions, Professors Hayes, Sheffield, Major Wheeler, and Megan Hamilton told us that Hill 70 was, in multiple ways, just as significant as Vimy Ridge. Hearing this immediately made me think about the differences between the two memorials. Vimy has become a defining symbol of Canadian remembrance for WW1, it has thousands of visitors and guided tours, while Hill 70 is comparatively unknown despite its importance to Canadian history. It made me realize that memorials not only preserve history, but also change the way we see it. The battles we choose to commemorate become the battles we remember the best. By the end of the day, I found myself trying to grapple with larger ideas about remembrance itself. Places like Vimy and Hill 70 show us that history is not about what happened, but also how people before us chose how they wanted it to be remembered by future generations. Visiting both sites have made me question why some sacrifices become more important in the historical record than others, and that will stay with me long after the trip ends.

-Landon Munnings (Wilfrid Laurier University)