The Vimy Ridge Foundation.
He was this year’s
winner to see where the famous Vimy Ridge battle took place in April 1917. It
was called the event that shaped the coming of age of Canada.
It was realised that
only 30% of Canadians knew the story of Vimy Ridge so this foundation was set
up to publicise it.
To meet this
challenge, the Vimy Foundation has taken the initiative to share the remarkable
story of Vimy with Canada’s youth. The Foundation has established a prestigious
scholarship for high school students, a nation-wide competition for young
people 15 to 17 years old. The Foundation’s other efforts include the
distribution of books on Vimy to school libraries, as well as the organization
of insightful presentations highlighting the historical significance of this
important victory.
To promote Vimy Day,
the Foundation also encourages Canadians to wear a Vimy medal or pin on April
9th each year, and is organizing commemorative events each April. The
Foundation is also hard at work developing plans for the celebration of the
100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 2017.
Daichi arrived in
Toronto to meet the rest of his travelling group and they left for London
England.
The group consisted of
17 Canadians, 2 English and one French student.
They toured the areas
of Vimy Ridge and attended the museums and gravesites.
What impressed him the
most was the Canadians managed to figure out how to win this piece of the war
that nobody else had been able to do and with less loss of life.
The question for the
students today is how to put a modern face on an old story and how to keep it
current in front of young people today.
Seeing the battlefield
itself made an impression on our young student and to realise that many
soldiers were so young when they died.
He stood in front of a
grave of a young Canadian that was just 16 when he died.
Then it was off to
Paris for ice cream and Croissants.
Veteran affairs and
private donations paid for the trip although he did contribute $500 toward the
trip.
President Paul thanked
the speaker.