Walking up to the Vimy Memorial path for your first visit is something you will never forget. The monument increasingly overwhelms you the closer you get to it; the grandeur and size has a physical impact. The winning design in the 1920 competition for a National Canadian Memorial – the Croatian stone gleams with impressive stature and presence. I am personally more drawn to the intimacy of the St. Julien Memorial, which stands at Vancouver Corner, Flanders, Belgium. I think it is the modest posture and stoic face of the soldier that draws me into the monument in a personal way. The colloquial name is "The Brooding Soldier" and I am fond of this soldier resting on his reversed rifle. This photo shows the plaster maquettes, produced by the seventeen finalists of the national competition for Canadian War Memorials. Both the iconic National Canadian Vimy Monument, designed by Walter Seymour Allward, and the St. Julien Memorial, designed by Frederick Chapman Clemesha, can be seen on the table of maquettes. This is what happens when you marry a battlefield tour guide - you develop an appreciation for public war memorials. They are art.
Photo: Aaron Plamondon
