BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
Gary Costello wasn’t even born yet when the First World War raged in Europe in the early part of the last century.
But the immediate past president of Branch 76 of the Royal Canadian Legion is passionate about the significance of the 90th anniversary of the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge.
It was the first time all four divisions of the Canadian corps had been brought together to fight, and they were able to drive the Germans out of an area where other countries had failed, he said. The British 5th Infantry Division also participated in the assault.
“There was an engineering student from Montreal. He was an artillery man, and he had developed a new way of locating enemy artillery and firing artillery, it’s called a creeping artillery,” said Costello, himself a veteran of the Korean War.
“They put all the Canadians who were in Europe in that one corps. They fired to a certain point. The troops advanced to that point. The troops followed the artillery in. That way the Germans had to stay under cover until the artillery crossed.”
In total, 100,000 soldiers helped to capture the ridge. Of that number, 3,598 Canadians were killed and 7,104 were wounded.
The French and British had suffered massive casualties in previous attempts to take the hill. The French alone lost 150,000 soldiers in 1915.
The German army had fortified Vimy with tunnels, three rows of trenches behind barbed wire, artillery, and machine gun nests.
Costello said he’s known several First World War veterans over the years, although they’re all dead now. There are only two veterans of the conflict still alive in Canada.
The veterans told him about spending their days wallowing in mud, seeing rats as big as dogs, and the dead being left in no-man’s land.
After the war, a memorial was commissioned by the Canadian government for Vimy, and it was completed in 1936.
Thousands of Canadians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, gathered at the newly-restored memorial Monday to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the battle.
Harper announced during a ceremony Sunday that six Canadian soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan, blurring the past and the present.
“It’s a remembrance ceremony over there, and of course they’re going to remember those fellows too,” said Costello.
“It’s a sad, sad thing. Just think what those fellows over there are thinking. They were with them yesterday. When we lost people in Korea, it really grabbed you.”
In Sudbury, the 90th anniversary of Vimy will be commemorated April 15 with a Legion parade starting at 1:30 pm at Tom Davies Square.
The parade will proceed to the Church of the Epiphany, where a service in honour of the battle will be held starting at 2 pm.
Rev. Tom Corston says his church has been hosting the memorial service for years. There will be a brief speech about Vimy, prayers for peace, a colour party and bugling.
“It was always considered to be the defining moment for Canada’s involvement on the world stage. So many Canadians were sacrificed in this battle,” he said.
Corston said he thinks his great uncle fought at Vimy, but he’s not entirely sure. His father fought in the Second World War.
“He (my father) saw action on VE day and was wounded in France,” he said.
“My father was always very quiet about his involvement in the war, but he always had his medals on and never missed an opportunity to be on parade with his Legion buddies. I think he’d be very proud (of the celebrations at Vimy), and would be there if he could be.”
