Day 5: Sunday, June 2, 2024 - Nijmegen to Ypres
- Visit Groesbeek War Cemetery: Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery containing the largest number of Canadian war dead in the Netherlands. Set amongst the soft, rolling green hills and farmland of rural Holland, Groesbeek Canadian War cemetery feels like a sacred place. Young and old, Canadian and non-Canadian alike, will find it difficult to escape the overwhelming sense of loss of life and deep pride in honouring the brave men who sacrificed their lives for us. Canadians who died fighting in the Rhineland during the spring of 1945 are buried, including many members of the North Shore Regiment.
click here for Groesbeek tour guide
Visit Kleve, Germany, one of the objectives of operation vertiable
Click here for operation vertiable tour guide
- Visit Vught Concentration Camp. This small, yet significant concentration camp was part of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” network of camps. A sobering reminder of the evil capabilities of hate. The combined memorial center and museum features various exhibitions, a memorial room and wall of reflection. The museum is spread out over several buildings and outdoor areas.
Click here for camp Vught tour guide
Visit the Passchendaele Memorial and Tyne Cot War Cemetery
Stop at Passchendaele, where the heroic efforts of the Canadian Corps resulted in the awarding of nine Victoria Crosses.
Click here for Passchendaele Tour Guide
Photo Stop at the St. Julien Memorial
Make a stop at this impressive memorial, which is located at the site where Canadian troops withstood the first German gas attacks in April of 1915. The memorial measures almost 11 metres in height and is topped by a granite carving of a brooding Canadian soldier.
Visit the Essex Farm War Cemetery
This small and sometimes overlooked place remains a moving and important First World War site for Canadians. Essex Farm is the location where Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae penned the famous and haunting war poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. The advanced dressing station where McCrae was stationed remains remarkably intact and shares the site with a small commonwealth cemetery.
Click here for Tour Guide for these stops
*Visit Ypres, Belgium. Another city devastated during the First World War that reclaimed itself but vows never to forget.
Visit the In Flanders Fields Museum
This award-winning museum is located in the eastern end of the beautiful and grand Cloth Hall in Ypres. Focusing on the horrors of war, this interactive museum invites participants to engage emotionally in the presentation of the past.
Group Dinner
Attend the “Last Post Ceremony” at the Menin Gate
Experience a unique and moving nightly ceremony to honour the dead of WWI. At exactly 8 pm up to six members of the regular buglers from the local volunteer Fire Brigade step into the roadway under the memorial arch and play the Last Post, followed by a short silence and Reveille. The Last Post Ceremony has become part of daily life in Ieper (Ypres) and the local people are proud of this simple but touching tribute to the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fell in defense of their town. This ceremony happens every day since the end of the First World War.