Vimy Ridge Centenary

[30Three]

Today 9th of April is the 100th anniversary for the battle of Vimy Ridge.
Give thank's to our Canadian comrades for their sacrifice on that day! Remember them!

Information

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[browningautorifle]

My great Uncle Leslie is still there, in La Chaudierre cemetery...right beside where Petit Vimy stood. He joined the 91st CEF and was sent to Salisbury as a replacement for the 58th CEF, a common practice for some units that were feeders for others. He was killed on the fourth day of a three day battle in a unit that was with-held from battle...according to Pierre Burton's book.

Actual fact was, he was a section commander and was killed along with the Platoon Commander when they were doing a recon of trenches and were cut off. They were found a day or so later during normal mop-up action.

He was from Harrietsville Ontario...joined in 1915.

[CINDERS]

Cannot say to much Jim except what I feel about the sacrifice all the soldiers made for the freedom of the world "They gave their all, so we could have it all" RIP for your Great Uncle bloke.

[Warren]

My great uncle was not so lucky and was never found.
His name is on the Vimy Memorial.......

[enfield303t]

My dad went over the top that day with the 2nd Battalion CMGC he was 19.. Awarded the MM and would never talk about Vimy other than a little bit about the training they did before the assault.

He went back when the dedicated the Monument in 36 and once more in 74 with my mom.

Still have his brochures etc. from the 36 visit, his Sam Brown and medals and a photo from the 1931 Re-union of the Officers of the CMGC.

He never thought anything of the MM, was proud of his 1914-15 Star.

[CINDERS]

Sadly Warren I think all of the Allied side as well as the other side suffered the same fates of missing loved ones, one can only hope that it was mercifully quick in both cases for both yours and Jims Great Uncles as sad as it is.
Allot of Australian families due to our small population were touched by the reapers sickle;
For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.

Pic of an actual tombstone & helmet on tour with the ANZAC Gallipoli artifacts show that toured Australia 2016.

[Surpmil]

My dad went over the top that day with the 2nd Battalion CMGC he was 19.. Awarded the MM and would never talk about Vimy other than a little bit about the training they did before the assault.

He went back when the dedicated the Monument in 36 and once more in 74 with my mom.

Still have his brochures etc. from the 36 visit, his Sam Brown and medals and a photo from the 1931 Re-union of the Officers of the CMGC.

He never thought anything of the MM, was proud of his 1914-15 Star.

The MM came to be called the "Maconachie Medal"; as though it was handed out like the tinned "pie" of that name. It was also a cheap substitute for the DCM and way for the authorities to avoid paying the £10 bounty that went with the DCM.

Thirty six men from the CEF were awarded the MM and two bars. When you read some of the citations it is clear they could as easily have been awarded the DCM and many others would have been for the same acts.

It did also come down to whether your officers wanted to recommend you, and if they did, you got it whether you had earned it or not. Conversely, if you were disliked you could get nothing no matter what you did, but this is the sort of stuff that most chose to leave out of their memoirs. One who did not mentioned that some of those in his battalion who had won the MM fairly refused to wear them on parade since the medal had also been awarded to some of the "court favourites" in the battalion who had not earned them.

War is said to bring out the best and the worst, and the best and the worst in them!

[browningautorifle]

It did also come down to whether your officers wanted to recommend you, and if they did, you got it whether you had earned it or not. Conversely, if you were disliked you could get nothing no matter what you did

Unfortunately it remains the same today.

[CINDERS]

# 7 - # 8 implicates that allot of chaps who may have rightly deserved honours for their courage and selfless acts of heroism were passed over due to the Officer not liking them or asserting they did not do enough to earn the award. That's pretty grim when the officer is to be impartial.......

I should say that some officers who at some stage in some wars whom were disliked by the troops may have met a premature end at the battle front and not by enemy fire..........!

[Gil Boyd]

I have had the great pleasure to visit Vimy Ridge many times. Total respect to all those school inturns from Canada each year who are so devoted to their task in making everyone who visits fully aware of their losses there.
I remember vividly standing in a Canadian trench corner, covered in a concrete slit trench no more than 20 feet from the German trench, which was the closest point on the line. The amount of grenades thrown at each other was phenominal, and must have had a desperate impact on morale.
RIP to all those young men on both sides who lost their lives on Vimy Ridge.