| Vimy Memorial |
| Pas de Calais, France |
| The Vimy Memorial overlooks the Douai
Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge, about eight kilometres northeast
of Arras on the N17 towards Lens. The memorial is signposted from this road
to the left, just before you enter the village of Vimy from the south. The
memorial itself is someway inside the memorial park, but again it is well
signposted.
On the opening day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting side by side for the first time, scored a huge tactical victory in the capture of the 60 metre high Vimy Ridge. After the war, the highest point of the ridge was chosen as the site of the great memorial to all Canadians who served their country in battle during the First World War, and particularly to the 60,000 who gave their lives in France. It also bears the names of 11,000 Canadian servicemen who died in France - many of them in the fight for Vimy Ridge - who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by W S Allward. No. of Identified Casualties: 11169 |
838492 Private
Campbell Clark
4th Canadian Mounted Rifles
(Central Ontario Regiment)
23/04/1917, aged 22.
Son of Duncan and Maria Clark, of 615, 8th Street East, Owen Sound, Ontario. Enlisted in 147th Grey Bn. Nov., 1915.
427229 Private
Gustav Adolf Stromberg
31st Bn. Canadian Infantry
(Alberta Regiment)
15/09/1916, aged 22.
Son of the late Gustav L. and Anna Stromberg.
427586 Private
William Johnstone Milne, VC.
16th Bn. Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)
09/04/1917, aged 24.
An extract from the Second Supplement to The London Gazette, dated 8th June, 1917, records the following:-"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. On approaching the first objective, Pte. Milne observed an enemy machine gun firing on our advancing troops. Crawling on hands and knees, he succeeded in reaching the gun, killing the crew with bombs, and capturing the gun. On the line re-forming, he again located a machine gun in the support line, and stalking this second gun as he had done the first, he succeeded in putting the crew out of action and capturing the gun. His wonderful bravery and resource on these two occasions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his comrades. Pte. Milne was killed shortly after capturing the second gun."
Picture courtesy of Joe O'Raw
Captain
Robert Fleming Bell
25th Bn. Canadian Infantry
(Nova Scotia Regiment)
28/04/1917, aged 31.
Son of George Walter and Emily Bell, of Meadow Creek, Alberta.
O. C. 2nd Troop B, 13th Sqn. 25th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, (Nova Scotia Regiment)
Picture courtesy of great nephew, Captain Kevin Daggitt, CIC (Air) Canadian forces)
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