Pilgrimages

I take a breath, scoot to the edge of my seat—ready to exit the van and eager to investigate our next stop. I walk along Ruytershoveweg Road toward a tall white wall, set back from the street and seemingly out of place among the trees that surround it. The beautiful clean lines and balanced shape appeal to me; I like the contrast of white against the green forest backdrop. It is peaceful here on the outskirts of Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands, on this October day and I am aware of the crunch of gravel and fallen leaves as I approach. I stand dead centre at the entrance to the Dilemma Maze, an interactive art installation, as our guide, Peter Stoop, asks the question, “What would you do?” Located beside the Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, this dynamic maze consists of a pattern of c...

In the early hours of Aug. 19, 1942, a largely Canadian military contingent conducted an ill-fated raid on German-occupied France. More than 6,000 infantry, including Private George Davies of the South Saskatchewan Regiment, landed on the beach at Dieppe that morning and faced deadly enemy fire. More than 3,600 of those who made it ashore were killed, wounded or captured, but Davies survived. Seventy-seven years later, his daughter Kathleen Matteotti is making her own journey across the Atlantic as a member of the 2019 Royal Canadian Legion Pilgrimage of Remembrance. The Legion’s first pilgrimage was organized for the unveiling of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France in July 1936, and the Legion has conducted pilgrimages of remembrance since 1988. On July 7, I join Matteotti...

The Newfoundland Regiment was the only North American military unit to fight in Britain and France’s costly Gallipoli Campaign in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire   Not long after landing in Gallipoli in September 1915, the Newfoundland Regiment found itself stalled in trench warfare, constantly harassed by sniper fire. In particular, Major T.M. Drew, the acting commanding officer, had noticed a Turkish sniper firing from a small knoll midway between the opposing trenches. The enemy took his spot at dusk and waited for night to pick his targets, then left before daylight. Drew gave an order to rid the regiment of this menace. Lieutenant J.J. Donnelly was detailed to lead six men and a non-commissioned officer to an abandoned post hidden from enemy view in the afternoon o...