Beaumont-Hamel

Despite this being my 3rd visit to the Battlefields, a certain amount of time is required to recover and process the experience. I don't believe in ghosts but I do believe that events and actions can affect the spirit and atmosphere of a place. Beaumont-Hamel, the memorial to the Newfoundland division, is such a place. It's one of my favorite memorials of the Western Front, because (though small) it's beautiful, and erected out of love and a spirit of shared community sacrifice. The Dominion of Newfoundland and Labrador (Newfoundland didn't join Canada until 1949) was TINY. And yet in 1914, proud and stubborn Newfoundland declared that they would raise their own battalion rather than be part of the Canadian Army. Despite having a population of less than 3,000 people, they  were able to send over 600 men to the Western Front. On the first day of the Somme, they were ordered to go over the top around 9am, and more than half of them were killed. It was the end of the Newfoundland battalion, on their first day of combat.

Of course this was disastrous for Newfoundland. That was a huge percentage of the population, and an even larger percentage of the young, male population. The women of Newfoundland raised money to buy a part of the battlefield, to be left as a park. You can still follow the trench lines and see shell cratersss, and the great caribou stands over the park, baying defiantly towards the German lines. Dominating what were the German trench lines, a huge Highlander stands with his legs braced, overlooking what used to be a ridge and is now a valley-- one of the great mines that was blown on the first day of the Somme.

My brother really liked the Highlander; he stands as though on guard. It was raining the day we spent at Beaumont-Hamel, and our pants and shoes were soaked by the time we got back to the car. There are two small Newfie cemeteries at the bottom of the park, and behind the Highlander are 12 graves of men of the Black Watch. The flowers planted in the cemetery are from Canada, and the park is covered in maple trees that were planted as part of the memorial.

Large portions of the park are roped of with electric fences; just like the rest of the Western Front there are still large quantities of unexploded ordinance, so make sure you keep to the paths! We were especially prompted to pray at Beaumont-Hamel; there is a sense of peace and melancholy that is irresistible.

We made a circuit of the park, even in the rain. When it rains on the battlefields, although it's uncomfortable, it seems normal-- and at least no one was shooting at us, and we could go home and get dry!