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| Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Beaumont Hamel , France Canadian National Historic Site |
July 1st is a day of celebration in Canada; it is our national holiday marking the anniversary of Confederation in 1867, when the British North America Act came into effect. Like all Canadians, I joyfully celebrate Canada Day with pride. But as a Newfoundlander, this day marks an additional and more solemn anniversary; Memorial Day marks the anniversary of the Battle of Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the Somme Offensive during the World War 1 (July 1, 1916). This anniversary predates Newfoundland’s joining Canada, when Newfoundland was a dominion of the British Empire.
As I sit here and listen to the pouring rain on this Canada Day, I can’t help but remember the 2018 girl’s trip; a driving tour of Belgium and France. A stop at Beaumont Hamel wasn’t discussed per say as we just knew it would happen. Upon arriving after 15.5 hours of travel from Canada, a 4.5-hour time change coupled with 2 hours in customs at Charles de Gaulle Airport, we excitedly went to pick up our rental vehicle. Que le plaisir commence!!
Well, not so fast ladies! Our rental agent decides the vehicle we rented; a SUV was going to be too big for what we needed. He spent the next hour to no avail trying to find us a smaller vehicle. By this time, I must admit I am convinced we rented a Bus! We finally get out to the vehicle, said SUV, which supposedly could hold up to 8 passengers. We stared and kept saying, “are we sure this is the correct vehicle”? It was! Oh, and the only way it would hold 8 passengers was if they were Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, even then it would be a tight fit.
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| Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Trail of the Caribou |
Engaging the GPS, avoiding flashbacks of “Recalculating is a four-letter word” experiences from Sicily and we are on our way to Beaumont Hamel. Eventually, we exited as directed by the GPS onto a small paved road. We travelled several kilometres without seeing another vehicle, coming to an intersection, and continuing as directed; our two-way lane quickly became a paved cart path. Yikes! All I could think was hopefully we had better not meet vehicles along this path. Of course, we did; one. A few kilometres more and we arrive at the end of the said cart path in Beaumont Hamel, where we are greeted by a sign with directions to the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. I can safely say Prime Minister Trudeau and his entourage did not travel our route in July 2016. The route we travelled to Beaumont Hamel generated a lot of laughter and more than a few flashbacks to our travels in Sicily.
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| One of the trenches at Beaumont Hamel |
Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial to all the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who fought in WWI, including those who have no known grave. The whole site is a cemetery and should be remembered as such. It is one of only two Canadian National Historic Sites outside Canada: Vimy Memorial is the other. I am not sure how to describe Beaumont Hamel except as a haunting symbol of remembrance to both human courage and resolve, as well as, arrogance and stupidity. Beaumont-Hamel is stunning and extremely thought provoking, bearing the scars of trench warfare to this day. It remains essentially an “untouched" battlefield where the original trench lines, artillery shell craters and the remains of barbed-wire barriers are still visible, softened only by the passage of time. The monument of the great bronze caribou, the emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, stands atop a cairn of Newfoundland granite on the highest point overlooking the former battlefield. The stunning caribou sculpture is facing its former foe with head thrown high in defiance. At the base of the statue, three bronze tablets bear the names of more than 800 Newfoundlanders (the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve and the Mercantile Marines) who died in the war and have no known grave.
So, for myself and most Newfoundlanders, July 1st is a day of mixed emotions. One of pride and joy as well as sadness and sorrow; and now it has also become a day to remember the start of another great adventure with good friends.
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| Bronze Caribou at Beaumont Hamel (British sculptor Captain Basil Gotto) Emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment |
The following web sites are excellent resources for information on the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial:
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/beaumonthamel
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/first-world-war/fact_sheets/beaumont-hamel
