French hikers honour Canadian soldiers killed at Vimy Ridge
Group retrace the steps of miner who fought and died with 10,600 others for France
French hikers are retracing the steps of a Canadian soldier who was killed in the battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 – one of the 10,600 killed in what was seen as a key point of the First World War.
The group Odyssée de la Culture, from the north of France, want to highlight the historic ties between France and Canada, its former Acadia, and mark the 100th anniversary of the Vimy Ridge battle.
Their walk took in parts of Cape Breton and southern England and they are now in northern France tracing the route of John Arsenault of the 85th Nova Scotia Highlanders.
They chose John Arsenault as he was a deep miner in the Cape Breton mines and their grandparents had also been miners in the French coalfields.
He lied about his age in 1916 to enlist – at 40 he was too old – and the group marched from Cheticamp, Nova Scotia, where he was born.
In freezing temperatures and in snow, they met some of his descendants and visited the mine in Glace Bay, Sydney, where he worked, before heading to Halifax where John joined the Titanic’s sister-ship, RMS Olympic, to reach Liverpool.
In the UK, they walked across southern England to his training ground at Milford and then to Folkestone. They crossed to Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he landed with the Canadian infantry, and are now heading for the Vimy Ridge memorial at Givenchy-en-Gohelle for April 8.
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Yesterday they walked from Calais – Audruicq and now they head to St-Omer, Hazebrouck, Aire-sur-la-Lys, Houdain, Bouvigny-Boyeffles and the final day to Givenchy-en-Gohelle.
At Vimy Ridge a commemoration will take place after their 220km walk – and it will last for 10,602 seconds, or one second for every Canadian to fall in the battle for Hill 145. The hikers will also visit Cimetière de Lorette, the First World War centenary ring and the Lens 14-18 museum. Find their programme on the Odyssee website.
In taking Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Corps, together with the British Corps to the south, captured more ground, prisoners and artillery pieces than any previous British offensive of the war.
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Details of the official French and Canadian commemorations are on the Canadian Embassy website.
