Each year, student guides from Canada take up their roles at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial near Arras in Nord Pas de Calais. Created to honour the fallen of Canada in World War One. The tall walls of the monument show the carved names of 11,285 soldiers who died in France during World War I and whose final resting places were unknown or not found.
The two majestic white towers of the Vimy Memorial, designed by Canadian sculptor and architect Walter Seymour Allward, represent Canada and France as two nations united to fight against a common foe for a common goal – freedom and peace. Before the memorial could be erected, the area had to be cleared of live bombs, shells and mines due to the intense fighting that had occurred in the immediate vicinity.
The site encompasses some 117 hectares and is the largest of eight Canadian and five Newfoundland memorial sites in France and Belgium. The Memorial stands on Hill 145, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
