Our Family’s First-hand learning about the war: visiting graves of ancestors who died near Vimy Ridge

For the first part of the year, our family lived in the UK. After having seen a replica of the Vimy Ridge memorial at Citadel Hill in Halifax, our nine-year-old son asked if we could go see the real one since we would be “close.”

After a bit of research, we discovered the 100th anniversary celebration would be happening in France while we were there. We applied for free tickets, and then hopped to France for a week. The Vimy Ridge Anniversary Celebration was an incredible day, but that’s a story for another time.

Before going, my mother provided us with information about her great-uncle, Ellis Hooper, who was killed in a battle leading up to Vimy Ridge, and was buried somewhere in northern France.

The night before we were to visit Aubigny, a cousin on my father’s side wrote to tell me that our great-great uncle was buried in northern France, and if we had the chance, we should go see his grave. He had died in the battles immediately after Vimy.

Ernest Marshall