FERGUS – Bob Domoney of the Vimy Oaks Legacy Corporation presented a NeighbourWoods Tree Talk at the Fergus Legion on Nov. 30. Domoney relayed the story of a remarkable project that memorialized Canadians who fought in WWI.
After the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, Canadian soldier Lieutenant Leslie Miller gathered acorns, brought them back home to Canada, and planted them on his farm in what is now Scarborough.
By the early 2000s, a group of volunteers led by Monty McDonald, a close friend of the Miller family, became determined to commemorate Lt. Miller and others by repatriating “Vimy Oak” saplings descended from those acorns, back to Vimy Ridge, to reforest the devastated area and distribute Vimy Oak saplings across Canada.
The story is an example of how a group of volunteers worked together and persevered through various setbacks to accomplish their mission to honour Canadian veterans, states a press release from NeighbourWoods.
The Royal Canadian Legion played a big part in the story too and the club thanks Legion Branch 275.
One hundred and twenty Vimy Oak trees are now planted in a park near the Vimy Memorial in France, and more than 900 are planted across Canada. Two Oaks are growing in front of the Wellington County Museum and Archives in Aboyne, and two are on Tower Street in Fergus at the edge of Victoria Park. There are plaques identifying the trees.
To find out about more NeighbourWoods Tree Talks and events contact Carole Pines at carole.m.pines@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.
