On April 9th, Museum London held a film night to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the WWI battle of Vimy Ridge. A number of short films featuring the preparation and aftermath of the battle were shown, which included voice overs of letters home written by soldiers at the time.
The night was also to mark the opening of the Souterraine Impressions exhibit at the museum, which highlights carvings made by Canadian soldiers in caves nearby Vimy.
When asked why it is important for younger people to see films such as these, and other examples of our country’s history, Zenon Andrusyszyn, executive director, project leader, and founder of the Canadian Historical Documentation & Imaging Group (CANADIGM), said
“You have to realize that Canada, at that point in time, was very young. Many of the men that went over to Vimy were essentially sometimes students, sometimes they were bank clerks, sometimes they were farmers, and they were all in their younger generation… it’s an important part of our Canadian heritage to commemorate the memory of these people, and I don’t think that we should forget that because they were fighting for freedom, for another group of individuals.”
Andrusyszyn supervised the development of the Souterraine project.