Today, July 1st, is a day of celebration for Canada and, while Newfoundland Labrador is now part of Canada, since 1949, today is also Remembrance Day there. Today marks 110 years since the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel in WWI in France.
The then-colony had raised a regiment of 1,000 men to support Britain in WWI. The Battle of the Somme had been raging close by for months. The Newfoundlanders had joined that battle in April. On July 1, at 8:45 a.m., on a ridge nearby, 22 officers and 758 other ranks of the Newfoundland Regiment were ordered to advance. There were no other troop movements in the battlefield at that time, and when they cleared the trench and moved forward, they were visible to hundreds of German artillery positions. Within 10 minutes, all 22 of the officers and more than 650 of the men of the other ranks became casualties. The next day, only 68 men answered roll call.
The Newfoundland Regiment had been wiped out.
Two days later, the British forces had succeeded in taking all of the July 1st objectives.
In 1921, the Government of Newfoundland purchased from France the ground the Newfoundland boys had fought and died on.
Today, there is a caribou statue there, and the original trenches have been restored. There are many cemeteries close by. Every year, thousands of visitors spend time in the park, reading the names of the Newfoundland boys who died there on the three large plaques below the Caribou and going down into the trenches.
So, while Canada celebrates, it is also a time to remember.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
