The Enduring Importance of the Vimy Memorial

Returning to France … gives us the feeling that we are treading on sacred ground, as we think of the countless thousands who lie sleeping here …We can never forget those heroic lives and the endless stories of bravery which make up the saga of the war. Acts of heroism were almost the everyday of life.”

Honorary Lt.-Col. the Rev. C.C. Owen, speaking at the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial in July 1936.

 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

                  John 15:13-15 NRSVue

I noticed that July 26 was the anniversary of the dedication of the Vimy Memorial in France, the sombre testament to the tens of thousands of young Canadians who died during WWI. In 1922 France gave 250 acres around the highest point at Vimy Ridge and it took eleven years to build once construction began.  I visited this monument and surrounding cemeteries when I was 25 and was overwhelmed by the realization that many of these men were younger than I was when they died "for King and Country. 

                                             Excellent novel about the creation of the Vimy Memorial

A couple of years before my retirement I spoke on the role of chaplains during the supposed Great War. Some of them saw their service as an opportunity to attract these men to church after they returned home, but so many were traumatized by their experiences and bitter that the government treated them so shabbily.

Others became committed pacifists, or at least anti-war, and experienced criticism for their outspokenness. Some lost positions in congregations as war loomed again in the 1930s. The Vimy Memorial was dedicated a mere three years before WWII consumed the world again and thousands more Canadians died. 

In the years following WWI centotaphs and memorials were established in hundreds of communities across the country and there are so many older churches with plaques honouring those who served and those who died. There was a sense that this these sacrifices were sacred and shouldn't be forgotten.  I wonder where they go when those buildings are closed? 

This may be a sleepy time of the year when it comes to these occasions but we would do well to remember and honour those gave everything for others. We are aware of the folly and brutality of war in so many places. God help our violent species. 

                                                               A Pacifist Song of the Era