It is in how we are remembered that we can live forever.  Shortly before watching the Vimy ceremony I had attended the funeral of a World War Two veteran and marveled at the differences in remembrance between a nation and an individual.  Both were acts of solemnity celebrating the gift of memory for a life.   In Hamilton we remembered Don Kennedy’s father as a veteran and a signaler who fussed over his cat and was loved by his family.  His life was recalled in stories and memories from friends and loved ones. In Vimy we celebrated Canada as a nation. As long as we live and hold the memory, the vision of Vimy and the life of Don’s father live forever. However, memory can be imperfect.With an individual it may be the forgetfulness of time  .With a national identity it may be more constructional.

As an individual or as a nation, the memory of who we are lives through those who hold our memory in trust  . For Don’s father his friends held his memory in trust by their shared stories and memories. They shared his many roles of father, colleague and friend to reveal a human being worthy of the love and respect in which he was held. At the ceremony it was the organizers who in trust for the nation distilled an essence of Canada and passed in words, music and symbolism a powerful memory to thousands of people around the world. For as long as those people have memory of Canada it will be the images presented at that ceremony. For them, Canada will be the Vimy rededication ceremony.

In the ceremony, the monument held centre stage  Its grandeur could not be ignored. Its message of gallant sacrifice and the sorrow of Canada in the cause of peace was as clear and bright as the massive statues. I was pleased to hear the Queen, the President and the Prime Minister speak of Peace but I heard no mention of reconciliation. I saw France and Canada as the prime stakeholders in Vimy but I looked in vain for the old enemy Germany who also lost so many of its sons at Vimy. In our age of apology I half expected a moment of reconciliation rather than a reaffirmation of an old alliance. Perhaps my expectation was due to misunderstanding the meaning of the Vimy rededication. Perhaps it is not a memorial to the fallen but a celebration of a blood sacrifice on the altar of Nationhood.

A couple of us watched the ceremony on the television. As the camera angle brought into focus the Dominion Red Ensign flying alongside the Maple leaf it received mutterings of approval from the veterans amongst us. There was a broad range of commentary throughout the ceremony. “Where are the PPCLI?” queried one. “Never mind them; it was the Canadian Guards who had the first memorial on Vimy Ridge.Where are they?”  
The ceremony moved on as our group scanned the TV images of soldiers and VIPs at Vimy counting and identifying campaign medals. “Where’s the army? There’s plenty of air force, what happened to the Army?” “They’re probably all in Afghanistan,” came the reply. The camera began scanning across the faces of Canadian and French veterans until it framed and rested on a Canadian Legion member. Head bowed as though in prayer, face partly in shadow from his beret with medals hanging down towards his clasped hands holding a small framed picture of two young soldiers dressed in Khaki. “Oh god, that’s the picture. That says it all for me.” The camera moved on as agreement rumbled around the group. The emotion of the ceremony began to move among our little circle around the TV and I asked. “What do you think those guys at the ceremony are feeling?” “Remembering friends in their own war,” came a reply. “Memories of their own war, is it the regret?” A different voice, “Sometimes, but it’s your friends… adventure… duty too, you go.”  

After the ceremony I met some of the young soldiers who stood as the guard at the Toronto Vimy ceremony. I asked how it went. “Freezing! Just trying to stop shivering.” Another said, “I just told myself to suck it up and carry on. The other guys seemed OK, so I had to stop myself from shivering too.” I asked what the speeches were about. “I wasn’t listening, too busy thinking how cold it was. It was when we got back and everyone else said how cold they were I didn’t feel so bad, we all felt the same.” Perhaps the Vimy message is the comradeship of shared hardship. In the short time of the Toronto ceremony a shared comradeship born in adversity had already begun. The veterans around the TV talked about experiences with which any military person could bond. Perhaps the Vimy message is the shared experience of hardship and danger that bonds friendship into sacrifice and nationhood.

At Vimy the organiser’s vision of how they wanted the world to see Canada was professionally executed with admirable precision. The words spoke of sacrifice and sorrow. The choice of participants in the ceremonial spoke of a country that values its aboriginal peoples, its belief in equality between men and women, and the equality of English and French as languages. The inclusion of veterans and the flying of the red ensign honoured the fallen. If memory is immortality then this vision of Canada was passed in trust to the thousands of young people invited to this ceremony.

 Whether it is the friends of Don Kennedy’s father or the students at the Vimy rededication ceremony. Those entrusted to carry the gift of memory hold immortality in their hands.   

Kenneth Lloyd is a principal mediator and coach for leadership and conflict management with Conflict Cooperative.
He is a thirty-five year veteran with experience in military and law enforcement organisations in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Canada.
He is a Major in the Canadian Armed Forces Communication Reserve and the Commanding Officer of 705 (Hamilton) Communications Squadron. Ken has a Masters Degree in Conflict Analysis and Management.
Contact at Inquiry@conflictcooperative.com Tel (905) 825-9898