We were able to spend some time around the community of Bourlon, partly because of my interest in tanks, and partly because we took the opportunity to join in a local 'bread fair' and look around a very local historical display. It was good to see the official memorials, and the scars on the landscape and the community that tell yet more.
It was good to talk with Yves, the chair of the local historical society - such an enthusiast for teaching history and telling and hearing stories of those who are part of that history. How good it was that he was also enthusiastic to practice his english! He is desperate to share in the remembrance of the battles of Bourlon Wood and others in the area with communities from the allied armies fighting.
How good also to spend time with Philippe, another enthusiast, who dug up a tank (http://www.tank-cambrai.com/) and was generous in his time to take us on the journey of finding it, and the history of the crew.
These two men are working hard to keep the history alive, to ensure that a new generation will hear of the sacrifices made, and to challenge thatose new generations to consider their responses to those sacrifices.
The offfical Canadian memorial is a stunning place of great beauty ...
A bullet scarred wall in Bourlon:
Personal remembrance - at the Bourlon fete:
