Monday, September 22, 2008

Back from the Front -- Mission Accomplished

We are back on the left side of the Atlantic after our two-week return engagement with Great War ghosts. After spending ten congenial days with our captain, fellow Western Front Association member Jack Patten, and six other Great War pilgrims, Jan and I rented a little diesel Renault Elf Twingo and went right back again for three more days – and 680 kilometres – in the battlefields of Flanders and the Somme.

We visited some of the same sites that drew us during the 2005 bicycle venture – and a great many more that grew important as a result of all the reading and research I have pursued in the intervening three years. A big disappointment of the 2005 trip was that Canada’s national war memorial at Vimy Ridge was under restoration, hidden behind shrouds and scaffolding. Now it has been splendidly restored; our afternoon at Vimy was a highlight of the trip. Our bias, shared with many who are not Canadian, is that the Vimy memorial is the most magnificent among the hundreds scattered throughout Belgium and northern France.

Jack saw to it that his troupe had occasional relief from the Great War. We heeded the Second World War and The Hundred Years War too, visiting German V2 rocket sites near St. Omer and in the Eperlingues forest, and the 1415 battlefield at Agincourt. Once on our own Jan and I took a short detour from the front and visited Brugge (Bruges), the remarkable UNESCO World Heritage Belgian city.

Especially gratifying for me was managing to complete a personal mission: to visit all the sites where the 22 Boularderie soldiers lost in the war are buried or remembered. Jan indulged my ardor to visit a number of sites related to people and events significant to the great-uncles who fought in Nova Scotia’s 25th Battalion. Uppermost among those was my visit to the grave of Elsworth Young, my uncle Harrison’s friend and platoon-mate, who was among 23 Canadian soldiers shot at dawn for desertion during the war. Before departing for Flanders I spent part of an afternoon with four of Elsworth’s great-nieces. I look forward to seeing them again and reporting on our experience.

We were blessed with good weather and good fortune and I return with plenty to think about and a hatful of ideas for further projects.

--Alan

Friday, September 5, 2008

Back to the Front

We are in Halifax all atwitter about our departure tonight for Heathrow and Sunday’s return to the Western Front of Flanders and France. In 2005 we shared our maiden voyage to the First World War battlefields with pedaling pals Mary and Mike. This time we’re sharing a van with eight fellow Great War aficionados who will be as keen as ourselves to eat, drink and sleep Canada’s battlefields for ten days or so. On the first visit Canada’s magnificent memorial at Vimy was under restoration, covered in shrouds and scaffolding. Now it is restored in all its original glory. We can hardly wait. Our itinerary includes several stops to accommodate my wish to visit the graves of Cape Breton soldiers not on my radar three years ago.

On the way to Halifax we paused at beautiful Marble Mountain at the west end of the Bras d’Or Lakes to visit cousin Dan Livingstone and tap into another mother lode of ancient family photographs. I never tire of looking for fresh treasure and exult when the effort leads me to new nuggets.

Our hosts in Halifax are sister Kathleen and brother-in-law Jon. Jon is 20 pounds leaner three weeks after open-heart surgery to replace a faulty valve. Those who are acquainted with my excellent bro-in-law will be pleased to hear he is doing well: it is only a matter of days before he’ll be leaping over tall buildings in a single bound.

--Alan