The West Vancouver Legion is commemorating the 99th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge Saturday.
The First World War fight for high ground in northern France is, “Where Canada really became a nation within the western world,” said legion executive David Jones.
Nearly 3,600 Canadian troops died in the four-day siege and 7,000 more were injured by machine-gun fire, grenades and bayonets on the steep terrain.
“Try to run down a 20-foot crater and run back up the other side with someone shooting at you with a machine gun,” Jones said.
While the battle’s import is debated, overtaking German troops on the seven-kilometre hill did give the Allies a view of trenches on the either side of the ridge.
The battle marks the first time the four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together.
Observers will parade from the legion’s 18th Street location at approximately 11 a.m. and head west down Marine Drive to the Memorial Park cenotaph for a prayer as well as a speech.
