The visitors of Vimy Ridge

Working at Vimy Ridge is like a gift where you have no idea what's underneath the wrapping paper. It looks amazing from the outside because it's all wrapped up and beautiful and you're ecstatic to open it. So you start to open it and you're all excited because you're opening this wonderful surprise but then, you realize that the person who's given you the gift is watching you unwrap it and you begin to worry about what you'll do if you don't like it. You begin to think you have an idea as to what is it and it's not quite what you expected so you brace yourself for the worst. But then you remember that it doesn't even matter what the gift is in the end, because it's about the person or the people who gave it to you. Most of the time we end up loving the gift that we're given because it's a gift, and it's special no matter what. And sometimes, if you're like me on Christmas morning, and you get an absolutely terrible/ridiculous gift from your mother, you screech and laugh and make her realize how hilarious it is that she should have thought to buy you such a thing. But that's not Vimy. No, it's not a terrible gift at all. In fact, it's one of those ones where you get a bit of sinking feeling in your stomach when you begin to think that it's not quite what you expected, but then you finish unwrapping it and it turns out to be magnificent, especially when you think about the people. Because really, regardless of what anything has to do with anything, it's always about the people, isn't it?

And that's what it's like at Vimy. It's super thrilling and exciting to arrive in France, to start training, to put on the uniform for the first time and give your first tour. And when you really start to feel like you know your stuff, it feels amazing to be able to give that kind of detailed and confident information to visitors. But then, the honeymoon ends and you start to have those days when you just don't want to be at work, can't bear to stand at the gate of the monument for another single minute and you just want to kick those kids who are climbing on the trenches off the site and back to Timbuktu. But, you can't - because you're a representative of Canada and you work to commemorate the Canadian soldiers who served in World War I. And it's at these moments, when you think of the people, that your job always feels worthwhile. When you put what you're doing into the bigger picture, it's amazing to think of what you're doing and what you're accomplishing in a days work.

What really hits home for me is when I meet those visitors, those special visitors that you will always remember. I've certainly had a few of those moments when I've helped someone find the name of a relative on the monument and watched the tears form in their eyes, found where a loved one was buried and helped get them to the cemetery, listened to the story of how a family was tracing the exact route that their grandfather had taken during his time on the Western Front in WWI. Those visitors and the passion, interest and appreciation they have for what the site is all about and what we do is truly inspiring and motivating. There is one visitor in particular that I touched me beyond any other, one which I will forever remember. He was a Canadian soldier on leave from Afghanistan who had tears spring to his eyes the moment he mentioned where he was visiting from. The tears remained for the rest of the day - while he found his great uncle's name on the monument and throughout the entirety of the tour I gave him of the underground tunnels. It's almost impossible to describe him and how he was. All I can say is that when you looked in his eyes, you saw the most tragic combination of loss, sadness, appreciation and love. The things that he had inevitably experience in Afghanistan were probably similar on some levels to the things that the soldiers of the First World War would have experienced and seeing Vimy, where all the Canadian soldiers fought, was most likely an extremely moving and real experience for him. But it was more than that - I wish I could better explain it, but he was simply lost, touched and yet so full of love and appreciation for what Vimy was all about. His name was Keith, and he was from Cold Lake, Alberta. Visitors like Keith and the soldiers who fought at Vimy Ridge and in WWI are really what my job is about, and they are the ones that I keep in my mind throughout everyday of my work at Vimy Ridge.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca