In company with Wayfinder Zukon and Prairiedog Glee Club, I picked this geocoin out of the Red-winged Blackbird cache. The coin is dedicated to the memory of Master Corporal Darrell Priede and the originator has asked that a picture of Canada be included with each log entry. I'd like to submit two pictures, in keeping with the theme as well as matching perfectly with the subject of conversation at our table for the June Meet and Eat.
The first picture shows a very special piece of Canadian territory - the Vimy Ridge memorial at Arras, France. Built on land gifted in perpetuity to the people of Canada, this towering monument honours the sacrifice made by the 66,000 Canadians who gave their life in the War to End All Wars. In the photo, Canadian submariners are making their way in preparation for Remembrance Day, 2000.
The second picture is a very poignant one, at least to me. It was taken in the chalky tunnels that run underneath and beside the Canadian Trench at Vimy. It is a maple leaf, carved into the wall by an unknown hand ninety years ago. What sounds and smells were in the air when he made it? Was he on his way to the front, or coming back? Did he survive? Was he thinking of a girl back home, wistfully? Did he ever know the emotional echoes his art generated all down through the decades?
I've had the privilege of taking these photos first hand, of seeing Vimy with my own incredulous eyes. It was not what I was expecting at all, and in company with two dozen other fine fellows I found myself having a fundamentally emotional reaction to it. At the Meet and Eat, the sentiment was expressed that every Canadian should see Vimy once in their life, that it would forever alter their perception of this beautiful country of ours. I know it had that effect on me.
Did Darrell Priede get to see Vimy before he died? I don't know the answer to that. I do know, though, that through his sacrifice he has become one with the dead of all Canada's conflicts. He deliberately put himself in harm's way, he gave up his future years, for an ideal. For principles, and to help build a better life for others far less fortunate that all of us are.
I'd like to find a geocache in or around Fort Henry in Kingston and place this there. It seems fitting, a nice bridge between the generations.
We will remember them.