World War 1 Monuments in Northern France

We flew from Nykopping to Beauvais near Paris on Ryanair - a discount airline which had very strict baggage limits. It was LOTS of fun having to weigh everything we had in the process of packing up (note the sarcasm). We rented a car at the airport and then drove north toward Belgium. Before leaving Canada, my Aunt Jane had given us a package of information about two of her dad's uncles who had fought and died in WWI and been buried in northern France. It had been our plan since getting that information to search out their graves. Since Vimy was also in the same area, we wanted to see the Canadian monument there as well. We managed to find the Wailly Orchard Cemetary and the grave of Newman Hall Campbell. The following pictures were taken there.(You can click on the pictures to zoom in and see the inscriptions better). The cemetary was small, but immaculate - obviously well cared for. We wrote in the visitors book and found Aunt Jane's comments from 2003 on the first page. I have included both a picture of the grave we came to see as well as a picture of the grave of an unknown soldier - there were a number of these - which we found particularly moving.





We headed on toward the cemetary at Villers where the other brother Colin Stanley was buried. Unfortunately, we didn't find the cemetary before dark although we did find the town of Villers. But as we drove around, we did find the Canadian Vimy Ridge monument which was being prepared for the Easter day ceremony. We arrived as the sun prepared to go down and a storm approached. The white monument was spectacular in that light and the bitter wind almost took our breath away. It gave us an appreciation for what the soldiers had endured on that ridge.