Cadets mark 98th anniversary of Vimy Ridge
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2015 (4072 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
IT wasn’t lost on 18-year-old Dalton McKay that the Canadian soldiers who died at the battle of Vimy Ridge were his age and had a lot of life ahead of them — if they’d survived.
“They were young, as we are young. They sacrificed freely of themselves,” said McKay, in his address to the military parade Saturday marking the 98th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, regarded as the defining battle in Canadian military history.
McKay, a cadet with the Army Cadet League of Canada, travelled from Cross Lake First Nation to give the Response to the Pledge of Remembrance. “It’s a huge honour,” he said.
His cousin from Cross Lake, Keenan Cook, also attended. There are about 70 cadets in the First Nation, a 750-kilometre drive north of Winnipeg.
McKay wasn’t nervous. Cadets are trained in public speaking. Being a cadet has “boosted my morale and my confidence,” he said.
Nearly 150 cadets from across the province, including Virden and Flin Flon, attended the commemorative ceremony at Minto Armoury in Winnipeg. They did a march past Lt.-Gov. Philip Lee, and stood for inspection as Lee walked between their rows.
“The cadets are charged with making sure people don’t forget” the battle of Vimy Ridge, when Canadian soldiers stormed and overtook the German stronghold in France, said Linda Wall, media relations director with the Army Cadet League of Canada.
“We’re leading up to the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, so we’re building up awareness,” she said.
The Manitoba chapter of the cadet league wants to send 100 cadets to Vimy Ridge for the 100th anniversary.
Vimy Ridge is regarded as Canada’s most celebrated military victory of the First World War and its coming of age as the young nation established itself. The four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together for the first time at Vimy Ridge. Previously, Canadian divisions had been split off and served in British formations.
About 100,000 Canadian soldiers attacked and captured the German stronghold along Vimy Ridge from April 9 to 12, 1917. More than 10,500 Canadians were killed or wounded in the battle.
Vimy Ridge is a seven-kilometre rise in northern France.
“The British tried to take it, the French tried to take it,” said Wall.
More than 100,000 French soldiers had been killed trying to dislodge the Germans.
A massive limestone memorial sits on Vimy Ridge, with inscriptions of the names of 11,285 Canadians who died in France in the First World War who have no known grave.
Cross Lake has some military history with Vimy Ridge. Sgt. James Whiskey of Cross Lake died in the battle.
“He was a hunter and a trapper,” said McKay.
bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca