Buster Rogers (in red sash) and other
Legion pilgrims at the Vimy monument
Photos are courtesy of Buster Rogers
and Marion Fryday-Cook
v
vImY rIdge
26 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com
Honouring Veterans is our Duty
by nujma Bond
an overwhelming journey
Imagine walking in the footsteps of Ca-
nadian soldiers who were part of some of
the most fierce and significant battles this
world has ever seen. Imagine Vimy Ridge,
the beaches of Normandy, and other places
where conflicts raged across parts of Eu-
rope. Sounds, images, and the reality of
war came flooding back to over 40 Cana-
dians who spent two weeks this summer on
a Pilgrimage of Remembrance, retracing
steps, hearing stories and riding an emo-
tional rollercoaster. The sensory experi-
ences could sometimes overwhelm.
"It's something I'll never forget," says
Marion Fryday-Cook of Nova Scotia. "I
remember more things as I go through
the pictures and start crying again. Lots of
tears were shed during that trip."
History has always been intriguing to Fry-
day-Cook, a teaching assistant in the town
of Chester. As the Pilgrimage departure
day grew closer, she became more excited,
thinking about what she might learn. Noth-
ing could have prepared her for the enormity
of what she was about to experience. "I just
stood in awe most days," she says.
Ceremonies of Remembrance took on
deep new meaning, held in cemeteries and
other places where Canadians found their fi-
nal resting place. In one instance, the group
visited the chilling courtyard of Ardenne
Abbey where one by one, captured Cana-
dian soldiers were executed – each report-
edly shaking hands with one another before
heading behind the abbey to take their last
breath. Fryday-Cook remembers the ex-
treme silence and profound emotion of that
visit. Other occasions were just as surreal.
"You'd be in the middle of nowhere and
our guide had a picture of Germans surren-
dering to the Canadians and you'd look up
and you'd be on that same road," she says.
At Vimy Ridge, the raindrops hit torren-
The Royal
Canadian
legion
a PilgRimage oveRseas wiTh
