Battle of Vimy Ridge
By Robert Allen, BCLS (Life Member), CLS (Retired)
Photo from Library and Archives Canada.
O
ne hundred years ago this year, the First World War ended; WWI, The Great War, The War to End All Wars, etc. To commemorate this life changing event, the Kay Meek Arts Centre in West Vancouver is presenting, or by the time this article is published, will have presented, a play simply titled VIMY, named after “a celebrated military victory, the Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9-12, 1917)”. It was the first time the Canadian Corps had fought together and it was considered a pivotal moment in the war. It was “an incredible engineering [and surveying] feat and a great success” but came at a horrendous loss “with 10,000 men killed or injured”.
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December 2018 | the LINK
The play was presented on November 2 and 3, 2018 in West Vancouver and it takes place in a field hospital in France just before the Canadian forces attacked the entrenched German army at Vimy Ridge. It tells the story through the experiences of four soldiers from different divisions and of one nurse; they all represent different regions across Canada. The play is also going to be performed on Remembrance Day at Vimy Ridge. Bill Chapman, BCLS, and his firm, Chapman Land Surveying, were sponsors of the play. A number of Bill’s family and old partners in his firm served during the war and all suffered from it in one way or another. 129 BC Land Surveyors, more than half of the
active BCLSs, signed up to serve overseas and 24 lost their lives and numerous others suffered injuries that affected them the rest of their lives. Nine of them were awarded the Military Cross. There is no doubt in my mind that the land surveying profession sent more men to that war than any other profession and unfortunately lost a higher percentage as well. Our friend and well-known author, Jay Sherwood, was also involved with this project helping Bill and the Kay Meek Arts Centre with some of the research.
