Back to the Somme: Part 3

| May 30, 2023

The Artillery Barrage Light gauge railways delivered ammunition to the frontline. Prior to the attack on 1 July 1916 a seven-day barrage fired 1.5 million shells. Of these it is estimated 1/3 of them were duds. The Canadian Expeditionary Force’s battalions took part in the Battle of the Somme but much later than the events […]

Ypres Salient South 2017

| September 21, 2017

Expressions On Their Faces The wheels begin to roll earlier today, across the cobbled back streets towards the Groote Markt and on through the Lille Gate. We are headed south of Ypres past Bedford House towards the St. Eloi Craters. The route today is almost a re-creation of our first visit to the Salient. At […]

Each field a farm and a battlefield

| December 30, 2011

Reflecting Upon War Horse The plow cuts its way into the ground, and turns the earth over to one side heaping the rich soil atop the furrow’s parapet. As Albert urges Joey through this field of stone, once again I turn myself towards the ploughed fields of France and Flanders, and to the harvest. Albert […]