Day 2

AM update ... The sun is shining, at least high in the atmosphere, but then again I guess it always does....the kids are tired but most did get a few hours sleep on the plane and we are beginning our descent to Paris(45 minutes out) as I jot this on my iPod.

Next stop welcome to France via Customs officers. We rush to get through the “hurry up and wait” scenario always incurred at customs, but we all make it through without any confusion or issues..so far soooo good!

We continue on further to meet our Tour Director David Harrod and then straight to Vimy we go. OFFICIALLY let the adventures begin! From my humble opinion things couldn’t really be much better, the Bruins have won and everyone seems to be in good spirits and our only casualty (sickness only) at this point is guess who? I will leave
that bit of trivia to those past TOSH World Tour blog followers to figure out who I am referring to....not sure??? Well the answer is Kelly but she is feeling much much better today and I told her that I would make sure that I passed that message on to her family so they would not be worried.

Off to Vimy and time to catch some zzzzzzz’s. Today your kids got to experience one of the most awe inspiring monuments they will ever set their eyes on...the sun shone brightly between the two beautiful spires, that is after the heavy rain and hail, but when the weather cleared the monument was unbelievable! This is my second trip to Vimy, but if you remember from the meetings I mentioned that I was unable to its experience its full beauty because of the reconstruction in 2006 to get ready for the 90^th anniversary in 2007. Back to the tour.....

We were also able to see the underground transport trenches, the forward trenches and the huge shell holes that are littered around hill 145 at Vimy. So far they(the kids) have done everything that has been asked of them. They have looked and listened to the stories of the dead and the supreme sacrifices they made so many years ago.

As an added feature of our day I asked our tour director, David Harrod , if it would be possible to head to a smaller and much more quaint military cemetery just outside the gates of Vimy. What is so special about Thelus cemetery, well there are about 260-275 Canadians buried in this small cemetery, but one very special soldier by the name of CJ Clue. Once again if you remember back to the meetings I showed you a grave rubbing that I did in August of 2006, on my first tour of Europe. Charles John Clue is the soldier that I was asked to research and as we passed by on our way to Vimy, the sights began to come back to me. Overtired I suppose was the reason it didn’t register immediately, but once I got my bearings(it’s not like I live here!) I realized I....wait now, WE needed to go.

The cemetery itself is located just off the main road on the way to Vimy and is set back in the middle of a farmer's field with the usual brick wall surrounding the headstones and the traditional inverted sword/cross monument at the center of the cemetery. It was now my time to introduce the students from both TOSH and Westisle to my friend CJ.

The experienced TOSH world tour bloggers from 2008 will probably remember me mentioning the “WOW” moments of teaching...well that is how we finished our first day off in France. I told the story of CJ as I stood

by his grave,I talked to the kids about how at age 27 he was not forced to join the First Great War, but because he was a recent English immigrant to Canada, I truly believe he felt he had to. It was his responsibility to his mother country and I asked them all which one of them could have made that decision at age 27, with a steady job as a butcher in Regina, Saskatchewan, with no wife and no family to speak of in Regina at that time either. He was putting his life on hold for a war thousands of miles away and yet he didn’t have to go, but Corporal Clue did(more than likely a Corporal because if his advanced age of 27 in comparison to many other 19-23 year olds we saw today.)

What most of you didn’t know about CJ Clue, and neither did I, was what he really looked like. IN 2006 I struggled to find much information on this hero, the city of Regina has no record of his short time in the early 1900’s. The only traces were family names back to England and most important to me was my soldier was faceless. I have told the story many times of how I would think of him when I would give a presentation and I always could picture a strong soldier but could never picture what exactly he looked like. It really bothered me and in fact I kind of gave up over the last year or so.

Ok now let’s back this story up a day.....Saturday morning before I left for the airport at 6 AM, I had to make one last stop in my classroom to make sure I had double copies of everything needed for tickets and such. The evening before I had packed up my scroll of paper to do my grave rubbings and removed CJ’s grave rubbing from the canister that I keep close by in my classroom. Well for some strange reason, I decided I would try one more time to see what I could find. I began to type his name, the cemetery, his regimental number into the world famous Google and.....within a matter of seconds I wasn’t sure whether I was staring at a ghost or a long lost friend as CJ Clue appeared before my eyes....I finally had met my Vimy hero. I would now like to introduce to you Corporal Charles John Clue(#204407) of the 21st Canadian Infantry Battalion.....

Earlier today at the Vimy memorial every student and teacher were presented with a beautiful medallion commemorating their pilgrimage to this great Canadian historical and nation building site. When he died on the 9^th of April 1917, as the attacks were well under way at Vimy Ridge, CJ was shot and killed along with many of his brethren only meters from where they lay today. He was not given a hero’s burial and more than likely his family did receive a service medal from the King for his short spell overseas(less than 6 months if I can remember correctly) but he certainly wasn’t recognized anymore than anyone else who died that day. But to me he is a hero and in my mind heroes deserve to be recognized. If Olympic Gold medalists receive medals, CJ Clue deserves and most certainly earned one so many years ago.

With the students standing around CJ’s grave, I finally presented him with the medal he always deserved. I took my commemorative Vimy medal from my pocket and buried it by hand at the foot of his headstone and promised that I would be back to see him again someday, maybe with some more students from TOSH or another school on PEI and most certainly with my family Julie, Mya and Max. My trip has been made already and I hope that your sons and daughters are able to experience half of what I was able to experience today!! Signing off for the night.....chat soon!

dc