Vimy Ridge casualties remembered in Ottawa
Last Updated: Monday, April 9, 2007 | 11:26 PM ET
CBC News
Hundreds of people gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa Sunday night to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The name of every one of the 3,598 Canadian soldiers who died in the 1917 battle was projected against the memorial overnight.
Gov. Gen Michaëlle Jean greets Canadian War veterans at the National War Memorial in Ottawa Monday.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
The all-night visual vigil was the brainchild of R.H. Thomson, a Canadian actor who lost seven great-uncles in the First World War.
"It's about witnessing every last man individually. Not as a group. Not as a rank. Not as a race. Not as a religion. Not as a regiment. But as an individual," he said.
The Ottawa ceremony and other memorials across the country were especially poignant in light of the deaths of six Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan Sunday.
"The problems that we had, those problems still exist," mused Vince Clark, a Second World War veteran who also served in the Middle East. "Until we can get at that political side, we're still gonna be faced with the danger of having people killed over there."
