Dieppe to Normandy

Posted on by CBF Student

This morning we woke up and began our day.  We started off with breakfast at the Hotel Aguado, then we all jumped into the vans and began our day.  Our first stop of the day was at Green Beach where one student had one of their presentations.  After a quick stop at the town near Green Beach we continued on our way with the drive.  Our next stop was the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery.  This cemetery was very interesting, having a large amount of Canadians who died during the Dieppe Raid buried here.  While visiting this cemetery three students had soldier presentations.  There was also one grave site that had two brothers buried together who died about two years apart.  After visiting the cemetery we started driving again.  Today we had a longer drive from Dieppe to Normandy.  We had a quick stop at a gas station to grab snacks and have a stretch and then continued on with our drive.  Our first stop in Normandy was the First Canadian Parachute Battalion Monument.  This is where two other students and I did our presentation on the First Canadian Parachute Battalion on D-Day.  We each spoke about a different section of the presentation.  After we finished out presentations we moved on to the Pegasus Memorial.  All the students walked through the Pegasus Memorial Museum which was really interesting, but was a bit crowded with all the people visiting for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.  Once we completed visiting all the sites for the day we headed to a grocery store to do our shopping for the next week.  For the next week we are staying at Moulin Morin where we are able to cook our own meals.  After finishing with dinner we relaxed for the rest of the night and took a quick walk around the property to explore.

— Alysha McGuinness

Day 7: On to WWII

Posted on by CBF Student

Wow, day #7 already! What an experience this has been for all of us, with so much more to come in the next nine days. We are all very fortunate to have this experience with such knowledgeable leaders and passionate fellow-students.

As you can see from the previous blog posts, we have had very busy days full of visits to WWI monuments and cemeteries. Personally, after dinner it is all I can do just to make it to my bed before falling asleep! So much learning and absorbing has been insightful and educationally inspiring, but we were all feeling some slight burn-out by day #7. Thankfully, today gave us the rest our brains needed to be rearing and ready-to-go as we head into the WWII portion of the tour!

This morning we packed up from our beautiful houses just outside of Albert, Northern France, and started with a stop at a cemetery just outside of Amiens. Our leader, Dr. Marc Miler, is an honorary colonel of the 403 Helicopter Squadron, so we stopped to visit the graves of two members of this squadron, both killed during WWII. From there we drove to Amiens for just over an hour of free time to wander and see the largest cathedral in France!

Another hour and a half drive finally got us to the coastal city of Dieppe. A quick lunch break, and then we headed onto the beach to listen to presentations from Kyle (general overview of the Dieppe Raid) and Haley (focus on the Royal Regiment of Canada’s experience on Blue Beach during the Dieppe Raid). Afterward, Dr. Milner shared with us his thoughts and knowledge on the topics, and then we were right back into the vans and heading into central Dieppe.

We all noticed right away that Dieppe had a key difference from the wide-open country we had become accustomed to: PEOPLE! Dieppe is a very busy tourist town, especially with the upcoming D-Day ceremonies and the fact that yesterday was a French holiday.

We got checked into our hotel and freshened up before walking down to the beach, which is one minute from our hotel! Right away we saw monuments dedicated to the Canadians who died during the Dieppe Raid, some having been erected within the last few years. Surprisingly, the soldier I am doing my presentation on was commemorated on one of the newer monuments. Victor Fredrick Olliffe was a trooper in the 14thCalgary Tank Regiment, and I look forward to sharing his story with the group and honouring his sacrifice tomorrow at the Dieppe cemetery. We listened to a presentation from Jacob (focus on the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry’s experience on Red and White Beach during the Dieppe Raid), and then our wise leaders on the happenings of August 19th, 1942.

Finally, at about 3:30pm, we were set free for the rest of the day! Roaming along the seawall and exploring the city at a leisurely pace gave us the break we all needed. Dinner, then some time spent soaking up the sun on the beach, and its already time to get ready for tomorrow!

Here’s to another nine days of learning, honouring and experiencing.

-Megan Hamilton, Vernon, BC

Remembrance

Posted on by CBF Student

Wrapping up Day 6 was a memorable one. For me, today was about individual remembrance. We received wonderful presentations on individual soldiers from two of the 2019 tour members; Cora and Mark. Cora shared the story of A.V.S Nordheimer, who fell at The Battle of Moreuil Wood. Mark introduced us to W. Garvie, who was a relative of a family friend that died of his wounds near Rocquigny-Equancourt Road during the Battle of Amiens.


These moving presentations are reminders that these men were very human. Humans with stories, with families, with lives. The sheer amount of lives lost can sometimes cause stories of soldiers to blend into one collective human tragedy, which it was, but each person who sacrificed for the war deserves to have their stories told and remembered.

The Canadian Battlefield Tour is designed with the intent of remembrance and doing these individual soldier bios are an important way to keep these brave humans stories alive for future generations.
I feel so incredibly fortunate to not only have the opportunity to be on this tour and to tour battlefields to gain a greater understanding of the World Wars, but to also hear biographies of individual stories of soldiers and how the presenter is connected to them. Our leader, Dr. Marc Milner, briefly shared a story of a previous tour attendee who was moved to tears when he saw the grave and presented on the soldier he chose. This is a testament to the effect of The Great War lingering even 100 years later. The soldier biographies have been the highlight in an already invaluable tour for me and I look forward to presenting my soldier bio I chose to remember.

Thank you, CBF, for this once in a life time opportunity to remember.

~Kyle Bell

May 28, 2019: The Somme

Posted on by CBF Student

Today we visited several different memorial sites connected to the Battle of the Somme (July 1-November 18, 1916), including the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval Memorial, and Courcelette. The whole day was very though-provoking and for me, the Newfoundland Memorial was particularly poignant. Throughout the day the weather shifted back and forth between sunshine and rain, and this was the case during the hour and a half we spent at the Newfoundland Memorial. The park is set in the Somme battlefield and the ground is riddled with the remains of old trenches and shell holes, which gives it an eerie green wave effect. It is a beautiful place but it carries a deep sadness that comes from the knowledge of the massive loss of life that occurred on the pockmarked hill.

The Newfoundland Regiment participated in their first major engagement after being stationed at Gallipoli at the Somme on July 1, 1916. In the short battle the Regiment sustained a nearly 80% casualty rate within the first 20 minutes of the attack, which is why the people of Newfoundland committed to building a memorial, and the whole site is now maintained and run by Parks Canada.

Walking through the quiet site really helps build a clearer idea of what trench warfare and fighting through mud and up and down hills would have been like. Some of the trenches (a mixture of German and British) are still big enough to walk through and it helps to be able to imagine the sense of smallness that many of the soldiers must have felt when they were preparing to cross No Man’s Land and attack the enemy on the other side.

The site is a beautiful memorial to the sacrifices made by the men who fought in the viciously deadly Battle of the Somme during the Great War.

— Haley Kloosterhof