There be giants in the land

Earlier today I chatted with a young Frenchman who had no awareness of Vimy Ridge nor the role that Canadians played in the liberation of France in WWI. Perhaps that would be true if I would ask the average Canadian today. I'm sure my knowledge of such historical minutiae was all but absent in my youth. In fact my last formal course in history was in 1968 when I was bogged down with remembering the details of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.

That all changed last year when I had the privilege of visiting Vimy Ridge myself. I travelled with some displaced Canadians who live in Ghent Belgium, a stones throw from the north of France. Let's forget about the details and history lessons and get right to the point. Every Canadian should have one and only place to visit for their Identity pilgrimage. No it's not Niagra Falls. It's not even the Hockey Hall of Fame. And horrors... it's not even Ottawa, the Nations captital. It's Vimy Ridge. In particular it's the Vimy Memorial, a little piece of Canada in the north of France. This monument tries to capture in marble, concrete and with the sculptors skill, the sacrifice of so many in what was to become, our finest hour and the event that galvanized an entire young nation.