This gallery features a selection of the Canadian war memorials that
I photographed in Europe in 1988 and 1989. The late George Hees when Minister
of Veterans Affairs was kind enough to endorse my project and provide appropriate
access. The book Silent Witnesses,1974, was an important guide to the memorials
and the battles and is occasionally quoted within.
In WWI Canada was part of the British Empire, so our soldiers fought under
the Union Jack. Their grave markers, however, were usually engraved with
a maple leaf, making it relatively easy to find the Canadians amongst their
British comrades.
But first I want to show you the location in Compiègne, France where the WWI armistice was signed.
The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 in a railway car stationed above the plaque within the short pillars protecting the site. The same railway car, now located a short distance away, was used by Hitler at the defeat of the French forces in WWII. The monument in the background is a statue of Marshall Foch who commanded the French Forces in WWI.
