Day 3

Up at 6:15 am



Breakfast was decent and kids really haven't complained too much about the 2 meals they've had....they are getting to know French  cuisine.....

last night it was chicken and pasta. Plain pasta with no  sauce, I remembered from my previous trip that unless you go out and unload some

coin in a fine restaurant, the French are very plain and bland when it comes to every day meals...Julia Childs may disagree but I now understand

Max’s infatuation with plain pasta and ketchup...it’s not that bad!!! Thank goodness for the ketchup.



7:45 AM and off to Beaumont Hamel... Beaumont-Hamel is home to the Royal Newfoundland regiment’s main memorial in France.  Of the

five memorials established in France and Belgium in memory of major actions fought by the 1st Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment,

the largest is the thirty hectare site at Beaumont-Hamel, nine kilometres north of the town of Albert. This site commemorates all

Newfoundlanders who fought in the Great War, particularly those who have no known grave.  Here are a couple of links to what the

kids were able to see today...isn’t

the weather just gorgeous!!!

The drive to B-H is a breathtaking drive through some of the most beautiful valleys that these kids will ever...yes even though

they live on PEI. These valleys are located in the Somme Valley.  Now its time for you to get your history books out and remember

so key points about the Battle of the Somme.....I’m waiting????  In order for you to study up on our trip I am going to provide a link to look at what the

Royal Newfoundlanders went through on that very first day of the Battle of the Somme.... 

The Royal Newfoundland regiment was not always called the Royals, this honour was bestowed upon them by King George V and

this site holds a lot of really wonderful stories that accompany those great Canadians in the afterlife, but for many Newfoundlanders

is also a place of profound sadness.  On that note today was to be Shelby’s day..... well it is everyone’s day everyday because of the

experiences so far, but so far each of the first two days has meant something in particular to a couple of us and so this morning would

be in honour of Maxwell James mercer.  MJ Mercer, as his name appears at the B-Hamel memorial, was killed on July 1, 1916 during

the initial onslaught of the Newfoundland regiment.  It was certainly an emotional time for Shelby as we walked and talked about what

took place along these battle lines.  As we approached the “Danger Tree” we stopped and explained that this was the objective point for

these men, only a few hundred yards removed from “St. John’s Road” trench about 85% of the men never made it this far and then I

showed her just beyond the danger where these brave soldiers lie.

As Shelby and I walked another 100 yards towards the Newfoundland cemetery we eagerly anticipated finding a grave dedicated to

MJ Mercer and thus making him our first grave rubbing of 2010.  Well the good news story has to end there because unfortunately

MJ Mercer is one the 200 men who are still buried in the battlefields of B-H.  This was the case in many of the areas of the Somme

valley because of the soft and fertile land that was blown to bits from shellfire and thus became a deep mud pit with which some

bodies could never be recovered.  So Shelby and I decided that we would do a grave rubbing anyway, so I told her that FT “Mayo”

Lind would be a good choice.  Go ahead and Google his name and see what you find.  I dare say nary a Newfoundlander would

not have heard his name before.

We then moved back toward the group who was just beginning their formal tour through the battlefields at the Caribou monument.  

The Caribou was the official symbol of the Newfoundlanders because as a pack animal a caribou never dies alone, someone from the

pack will always stay with the sick until it dies and then it catches up to regain it place with the rest.  Look it up I kid you not!!  

Well this opportunity was perfect timing as we arrived the staff member at B-H was just finishing up her speech about the monument

when I asked if I could have Shelby come up front and introduce her friends to her great-great-great(I think that is the right number)

uncle MJ Mercer. Once again a few tears were shed, I wished I would have been able to bring home something concrete like the grave

rubbing for Shelby,but I am sure this memory will last forever with her!!!





From there we moved onto Passchendaele and its beautiful surroundings.  It today stands as a beautiful little town,

but this was not the case almost 100 years ago.  Passchendaele is home to Tyne Cot cemetery, one of the largest grave sites

you will ever see.  Although Tyne Cot was not originally on our schedule I had asked our tour guide to make a small detour

so the kids could see the magnitude of what took place at Passchendaele.  Tyne Cot is the resting place

of over 11,000 Commonwealth soldiers and further commemorates another 34,000 on the back

wall of the structure who have no known grave...over 45,000 dead and that is just the Allies and does

not obviously include the Germans. Unbelievable.....this was the place of my last adventure when I truly began to realize

the magnitude of what had happened during the First Great War.

After leaving the cold wet and windy weather in Passchendaele, (if you are really paying attention a little while ago

linked a video from B-Hamel and mentioned the beautiful sunny weather...RIGHT!! It has been cold, wet and windy...basically

downright miserable!!! But the kids have not complained one bit!!!) we were off to Belgium.  Crossing into Belgium was a nightmare, we

had asked all of the kids to bring their passports as we were leaving the country but of course not everyone listened.  SO in that

case we were forced to leave a couple of them at the border and we said we would be back to pick them up in about 4-6 hours.  Don’t

despair we left some food and some cards so that

Brendan, Alix, Emily and Erica could entertain themselves while we attended supper in Ieper(Ypres) and then the Menin Gate ceremony.

However, prior to Menin Gate I took them on another off road adventure to Langemarck cemetery.  Langemarck is a German cemetery

and I really wanted them to see the difference between the Allied and German cemeteries.  There is a major difference in tone and feel

through these ones as compared to the Commonwealth sites.  In the same area is a really neat monument, actually Canada’s main

monument in Belgium, “The Brooding Soldier” located at Vancouver Corner, St. Juliaan, Belgium.  Cool stuff all around!!! The 4 kids we

left behind would have really enjoyed both of these sites for sure!

To the Puchniak’s, Ronohan’s, MacDOnald’s  and Barry’s I truly apologize for what happened today.........hehe just kidding!!  That

was the big joke earlier today, going from France to Belgium was like leaving “Southwest Lot 16 and entering Central Lot 16” as

Sam K and Trisha explained it.  The European Union agreement has basically removed all international borders between those

countries...my apologies again, but I thought it was rather funny!!! Did anyone drop??  I hope no one swore at me either!!! Tom how

is Cathy feeling???...sorry buddy!!!

The weather began to improve a little bit as we walked through the town of Ieper on our way to supper.  This is one of my favorite

towns in all of the world, it is rich in history, rich in chocolate(my god some of you are going to gain about 50 pounds when you see

they chocolate they are bringing home) and obviously steeped in tradition as the ceremony at Menin Gate we attended tonight will

attest to.  This ceremony has taken place every day (yes 365 days a year) since 1928.  It is very similar to our Remembrance ceremonies,

but the amazing fact is that they show reverence to the dead every single day.  During the German occupation in WWII, the ceremony

still took place but in Britain, so in essence the Menin Gate ceremony has never stopped!  Too cool!!!

Thus our day is winding down and I am once again losing steam.  I need to pack as we leave in 6 hours and I still need to sleep and

watch the Bruins game during that time, all the while mixing some sleep in at some point.  I can sleep on the bus tomorrow as we

head to Bruges for some fun and then on the Netherlands for the remainder of our stay.  You kids are well and fairly happy, tired as

heck and not really keen on the 6 AM wake up calls but they have been the best behaved and most respectful at any site we have

been at and that is the truth unlike the story about the border incident.  Sorry again to those families who were ready to call Mr. Sabean

and have me fired while overseas!!!  All in fun!!!  Take care all and have a great day!!  Here we go Bruins here we go!!!!!

dc

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

May 1/2010(Day 1)

Overall it was a smooth getaway with an uneventful flight to Montréal. The flight from Charlottetown to Montreal was simple with no glitches and arrived on time for the hockey game!!!

Now it is off to Moe’s restaurant for lunch and of course THE BRUINS!!! Ooops I mean off to see the beautiful sights of Montreal...well at least Marilyn and Barb will see the sights!!!
Normally I would be sitting in one of two places my house with my Bruins shirts and jerseys close by, but this will have to suffice and let's not hope that this a bad
luck for my bruins....

SO the Bruins got up 2-0 and I was :), 2-1 still :), 3-1 even :)er yet, 3-2..mood is starting to change, 4-2 :) again...4-3 arrrrggghhhh, 4-4 that’s it this place is bad luck and it is all because I am not sitting in my house with my jerseys out and watching and yelling at the players to shape up or ship out...OT and I am officially not going to to Europe because the team just doesn’t play as well without me sitting in front of my OWN TV. OMG they nearly scored(I’ve jumped up)..holy crap they had another chance(I jumped again)...jeepers another one again( I may as well just remain standing)...my gosh the Bruins are all over them and I can’t figure out why all of these Montrealers are staring at me(might it be the Bruins T-shirt and the Bobby Orr jersey draped over the seat beside me...ahhh who cares!) Phewwwfffffff finally they scored..Marc Savard just back from 3 months of injury scores the winner and I just high fived some guy I do not know....the trip is back on and I am officially heading to Europe in a few hours.

I am sure that you are wondering what the kids are doing by now, well they were actually on their sightseeing tour of Montreal. The group arrives back at 5:00 PM and then we head down to the International boarding area and the kids are certainly starting to get ramped up. Shopping update #1 Emily and Shannon have decided that Montreal airport would be a great place to buy straw hats for summer beaching....Chisholm disagrees but then again I am a male lacking that S chromosome (s for shopping in strange places for seemingly strange seasonal items!)

Well as I have a penchant for making fun of people when they make silly little
mistakes, I must now poke fun at myself. Of course trying to be
diligent and after a rather exuberant OT goal celebration I decide to go for a walk in order to make sure all of our flights were running on time. Down to gate 51 I wander. Well that was a mistake because the minute I passed through (the poorly signed international departure checkpoint I might add) I soon realized after a few moments I was past the proverbial point of no return. Yep that’s right, 3 hours until departure and I am by myself and they(airport security) won't let me out. Luckily after hanging out with the Surete d'Aeroport du Montreal for about an hour, one kind guard agreed to
head down towards our meeting point and locate the "military looking guy" aka Kent Macrae and tell him where I was..... Long story I realize but hey get used to it, this is my blog and I can be as long winded as I like, no you know how my students feel everyday...haha just kidding! To make the long story longer the kids arrived with my stuff and all is well as we wait for our final boarding instructions onward to Charles De Gaulle in Paris. Next update will be shortly..running out of gas but Day 2 needs to be documented!!!

DC

WE ARE HERE!!!!

We have just arrived at the hotel after AN EXTREMELY LONG DAY OF TRAVELING from Paris to Vimy...I will update later after I shower and eat....take care and everyone is safe!!!!
dc