A local high school teacher is currently in France visiting some of the locations where Canadian soldiers fought during both World Wars.
Rebecca Grimes, a French teacher who also teaches Canadian history in French at Centre Wellington District High School, left on Monday to spend two weeks overseas as part of a Juno Beach Centre trip that includes 21 other history teachers from across Canada.
Grimes is no stranger to France, having worked there and visited some of the sights before becoming a teacher.
She is fascinated by what drove young men to enlist as soldiers and risk their lives for their country.
“I’m looking forward to going back and visiting these sites again, but it’s really to understand what our soldiers went through,” she said.
Grimes, whose family comes from Belgium, said her grandfather enlisted in the British army and was involved in the Dunkirk evacuation in May, 1940 that saw 330,000 rescued from Dunkirk after being encircled by German forces.
Her grandfather was also part of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, something Grimes finds hard to explain, particularly when many of the soldiers were about the same age as her high school students.
“The things they did to protect the freedom we have,” she said.
She recalled walking into the Dieppe cemetery on a trip in 2002 and noticing how tranquil it was.
“You’re walking through the cemetery and you’re thinking about the horrors,” she said of how the area would have appeared during the heavy fighting that took place.
The Juno Beach Centre is hosting its 10th annual Professional Development Battlefield Tour for Educators from July 28 to Aug. 4.
“A group of 22 Canadian history educators will travel to France for professional development training on the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars,” Juno Beach program coordinator Charlotte Hall-Coates stated in a press release.
“This year is especially historic as 2014 marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the centennial of the start of the First World War.”
The 10-day tour includes Vimy Ridge, Beaumont-Hamel, Dieppe, and historical sites in Normandy including the Juno Beach Centre, Omaha Beach, and Arromanches, with a remembrance service at the Bretteville Canadian War Cemetery where 2,500 Canadians are buried.
“Educators will gain first-hand knowledge of Canada’s military history, an experience they will pass onto their students in the classroom,” a News release from the centre stated.
Grimes is confident the experience will make her a better teacher, based on a ground zero study of the landing beaches and where battles were fought.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to go and look forward to how I can be a better teacher,” she said.
The Juno Beach Centre is Canada’s only museum on the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, founded by Second World War veterans and volunteers in 2003 as a lasting testament to the Canadian contribution on D-Day and the Normandy Invasion.
The centre also helps fund a portion of the trips. For more information visit: www.junobeach.org.
