Alfred Stafford WW1 - Battlefield Tour - Vimy Ridge

The back of this (poor quality) photograph states "Memorial to Canadians Vimmy Ridge." The photograph, just about shows stonework, and a lot of debris lying around with a rail line in front.  In 1929 this Memorial was under construction.     

1929 Canadian Memorial Vimy Ridge

The Memorial was designed by the Canadian monument sculptor and designer Walter Seymour Allward, CMg RCA (1876-1955).

This is a recent view of the completed Memorial, its size is colossal.  It overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge.  Commemorating over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as 'missing presumed dead' in France and as a tribute to all Canadians who served their country in battle.

It lies about eight kilometers northeast of Arras. Situated in a 91 hectare memorial park, stocked with great masses of Canadian trees and shrubs to resemble the wood and forests of Canada.  Eleven thousand tonnes of concrete and masonry were required for the base of the Memorial, and 5,500 tonnes of 'trau stone' were brought from Yugoslavia for the pylons and the sculptured figures. Construction of the colossal work began in 1925, and 11 years later on July 26 1936 King Edward VIII unveiled the monument.  

 Canadian Memorial Vimy Ridge Today

I am sure there will have been reports and pictures published in British newspapers in 1936, allowing Alfred and his colleagues to see this magnificent monument in its finished state?

'Mother Canada' Vimy Ridge Memorial

Named Grange Subway because of a Grange that stood on this spot.  Intersecting tunnels were built and used by the allies in fighting at Vimy Ridge.  Even though it was cold, damp and dark it was better than the trenches.