Vancouver remembers Vimy Ridge, 95 years later

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s been called the moment Canada became a nation of its own.
   
Dozens of cadets, veterans and relatives have gathered at the Victory Square Cenotaph in downtown Vancouver to mark the 95th anniversary of the World War I battle of Vimy Ridge in France

Canadian soldiers stormed the ridge on April 9, 1917 and after four days of intense fighting, captured it from German forces.
    
Thirty-six hundred Canadian soldiers were killed, including 700 British Columbians. Many more were wounded.

Larry Battle stands as The Last Post echoes out around downtown and veterans place wreaths at the foot of the stone monument. His grandfather, Robert Battla, fought and died at Vimy.

Battle exclaims pride at seeing so many young cadets at the ceremony and hopes to return to Vimy Ridge for the 100th anniversary in five years.

“I want to keep this alive,” he stresses, a Vimy pin and medal proudly displayed on his jacket near a poppy.  “I’m interested in it and I want the next generation to be interested in it as well, and to keep that alive and never forget.”
        
Margo Hayward’s father Roy fought and survived the brutal fight.

“He had many stories to tell and close calls in his life and he came out totally unscathed and he didn’t ever seem to have any emotional or psychological problems with it either,” she recalls.  “He was a fantastic father [with] a great sense of humour.”

Marjorie Porteous holds a faded photograph of her father Mons Ekanger, a clean-looking man with slick-backed hair.

“He was a new Canadian and he joined up [in WWI] with the boys from Kootenays,” she says, grasping her father’s round, silver dog tag.  “He didn’t talk much about the war.”

Ekanger was badly wounded during the battle and spent a year in England recovering.

“They wanted to amputate his left arm but he was unable to work after that,” Porteous recalls.
        
“Last May I went to Vimy Ridge, so I could really get the feeling of where it all happened, and that was very  interesting,” she adds.  “That was good for me. It was important to see the trenches and the tunnels.”

Chief Warrant Officer Catherine Chernoff with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada was one of four cadets to stand as sentries around the cenotaph during the ceremony.

“Being up on that monument today brought about a lot of pride,” the 18-year old reflects, dressed in full military garb. “Just to be able to represent a regiment that was actually in the battle.”

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