megram - Index

megram - 55NovOttawa - Index

Vimy
A memorial that’s
almost as breathtaking
as what it represents
By Barbara Bottriell
“...To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep...”
Ever since I’d read Canadian author Jane Urquart’s The
Stone Carvers several years ago, I had wanted to see
the Canadian war memorial at Vimy in northern
France.The novel, though fictional, rang with a truth about
the passion of those who created it that made me want to
see what they had done.
In May of 2008 I finally went to Vimy.The memorial is
situated in the French countryside, about 175 kilometres
north of Paris and about 10 kilometres north of the town
of Arras.It was commissioned by the Canadian Government
John McCrae, May 1915
after World War I and was the creation of Toronto sculptor
and architect Walter Allward and an army of builders and
carvers working under his direction. Allward, it seemed,
was fanatical about every detail of the monument. It was
his vision, his dream, to create something so monumental
and so beautiful that no one would ever be able to forget
the sacrifices made by all the boys and men who went to
war thinking it was going to be an adventure, only to die in
the morass and the mud, far away from home.
The monument is huge — made all the more so
November/December 2008 • Ottawa 36 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine