KING TO OFFICIATE

Evening Post, Issue 126, 29 May 1936, Page 9

KING TO OFFICIATE

MEMORIAL UNVEILING"

CANADIANS WHO FELL AT

VIMY

PROMISE WHILE PRINCE

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 27. In accordance with a promise made while he was Prince of Wales, King Edwsrd, at the invitation of the Canadian Government, will unveil on July 26 the memorial on Vimy Ridge to Canadians who fell in the Great War. At the King's own desire, this announcement was made by the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Mackenzie King, at Ottawa. ' It will be the first time a King of England has, left his own country for several years. His visit to France for the ceremony will be of short duration, ,and it is possible that he may proceed by air. The memorial is dedicated to 12,000 j Canadians who fell in the war but who I have no known graves.- Their names are engraved around the base of the memorial, which measures 237 feet long,- with two main pylons each 138 feet high, and weighs 30,000 tons. It stands on Vimy Ridge, the capture of which was achieved by Canadian forces, in 240 acres of ground which the French Government has presented to Canada. This area has been cleared and planted with trees, which gives the memorial a beautiful setting. At night time it will be floodlit. I- The President and many other distinguished Frenchmen will meet there I for the ceremony, and several thousands of Canadian ex-servicemen are to cross the Atlantic to be present at the unveiling. Vimy Ridge became inseparably linked with Canadian history during the great Allied defensive of 1917, when, as part of the Ist Army under General Home, the Canadian Corps and the 13th Brigade of the sth British Division were given the task of attacking the ridge, considered one of the strongest positions in France. The attack was made under cover of a creeping barrage and within 40 minutes the whole of the front-line system Of trenches, save a small portion of Vimy Ridge, was captured. By noon the greater part of the objective had been taken and a number of hostile batteries captured, but the attack as a whole did not succeed, though gains were made, owing to exhaustion of the. French after Verdun, the lack of surprise, the distance between the French and British attacks, and the comparative narrowness of the German fronts assailed. The British casualties were 132,000 between April 9 and May 5. The ridge, however, finally fell to Allenby's Third Army in a later attack. The Canadians have planned a mass excursion to the famous battlefield for. the opening of the memorial. Thousands of. veterans and their relatives are to journey to the spot and spend three or four days visiting the spots where the Canadian forces fought during the Great War. The Canadian pilgrims will be joined by Canadian exservicemen now resident in Britain, and when their visit to France is ended the party will make a trip to London.