#vimyridge

“There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it.” (Edward Hyams, Chapter 7, The Gifts of Interpretation). 

To me, this quote means so much. And maybe I’ve been hyper-sensitized to it after working at a commemorative site, but honestly, this summer this concept of relating the past to the present was the basis of my whole interpretative structure. As I’ve previously mentioned, this summer I worked at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Scattered through the site are remnants of First World War trenches, mine craters, and shell holes, making the ground look bumpy and rough. This ground truly tells a story, a story of the horrors of war and the unimaginable conditions these men lived through. But for many first-time visitors, or visitors who haven’t done their research, the shell pocked ground might be misinterpreted as the geography of the land. Without the knowledge and interpreters present on the site, these grounds might be completely covered up and the stories of the men would be blotted out.

On its’ own, the grounds of Vimy Ridge aren’t anything spectacular to the untrained eye. It may look like parkland, which is rare in northern France. It might just be a few fields cleared in a forest. There isn’t any peculiar merit in this ancient land, like Hyams says in this quote. Bits and pieces of the attack at Vimy Ridge are scattered all over the world, France, Great Britain, Canada and countless other countries. Artifacts and stories are spread all over, and these things don’t have much value on their own. Just a couple weeks ago, I was at the Aberfoyle Antique Market and found a 48th Highlander Battalion beret! To someone who doesn’t have the context or the love of history as I do, it might look like just a dusty old hat. But to me it’s so much more! It’s the integrity of the stories and the bigger picture that make those little nuggets of knowledge and pieces of history worth all the fuss.

Image 1: Myself at the Aberfoyle Antique Market holding the beret worn by a soldier of the 48th Highlander Battalion during the First World War. This battalion is especially important to me because many of the men had my family name: McKee. Many of these men were Irish and Scottish Immigrants.

I especially love the second half of the quote, about how the past is not done with. This is so important within the lens of nature interpretation, because the natural sites we may someday work at have so much history, and it’s the past that has shaped the landscape we see today. For example, the natural areas around an active volcano are strongly affected by the volcanic activity. The metaphor of the train and train station are so impactful, because if we continue to travel and explore places with the sole purpose of taking a photo for the ‘gram, we’ll miss the bigger picture and the context of where we are.

I’ve found that not everyone responds to historical facts. Often at Vimy, the people took the guided tour just to see the tunnels. I’d notice them staring off during the visit, not engaging with what I was telling them. But for them, it was the stories of real people who fought there that struck a chord. At the end of my tours, I loved to tell people about my personal connection to Vimy Ridge. Two of my great-great-uncles fought during the First World War, one of which was only 16 years old when he enlisted. His older brother, Millard, who was 18 at the time, enlisted along with him to keep an eye on him. The brothers left Canada for the very first time, searching for adventure. During training, the 16-year-old, Lee, got the flu so he was hospitalized in England. His brother Millard participated in the attack on Vimy Ridge with the first Canadian division. During the action, he was shot in the arm. He recovered before wars end, and he and Lee fought until the end of the war. Then they headed back home to south-western Ontario, and when they arrived, they had a new baby sister, my great-grandmother. Telling this story to the visitors not only personalizes my tour and makes it meaningful for me to present, it also allows people to connect the ancient grounds around them. Many of them likely have connections to the war they don’t even know about. The story of my great-great-uncles is not unique, they were just one of the lads in the trenches. But to me, that personal connection maintains the integrity of the site, and reminds me why it’s so important to preserve the site. Because of the sacrifice of countless men just like my uncles, the Vimy Ridge where I worked this summer is completely different than the Vimy Ridge they worked at 102 years ago. And that’s why I do interpretation.