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(/f, in“; ff, 115-; CV/Pi' 3.3.: /r' if it! o" 'fy. -!"i' if? '52:? t(' Almost 90 years after Col. Charles Vandersluys put brush to canvas, his daughter Sally Hastings travelled to France to find the spot that had so in- spired her father. Armed with a photocopy of her beloved watercolour, Hast- ings, and her daughter talked with local residents, hoping the church was still standing. It was. "We sat on the hill in the exact spot he sat when he painted," the said. The quaint little church is not far from Vimy Ridge, where Vandersluys and his younger brother Jack participated in one of the most celebrated battles of the First World War. A member of the 44th Lincoln and Welland Regiment, Charles Vapdershsys arrived in Europe in 1915 and fought alongside fel- low soldiers with the 4th Battal- ion of the Canadian. Expedi- tionary Force. In April 1917, he was in north- ern France preparing for what would become known as the Bat- tle of Vimy Ridge. Four Canadian divisions began an assault on the gently sloping hill 90 years ago Paint brushes and easel in hand, the Niagara Falls native painted what he saw before him. Mother and daughter opened a bottle of Champagne and raised a glass to toast the colonel. Sitting atop a grassy hill in the summer of 1915, the young sol- diet looked down on a small church in Canaples, France. "It was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life, I still come to tears when I talk about it," Hastings said of the trip she took several years ago. ST. CATHARTNBS-NEAt Vimy relived through soldier's letter iii/.2 'hi' Please‘see Vlmy page A2 The Standard'g View page " m: r" , It'd =ai'a;ci.r:ri TEE: By ALISON LANGLEY Osprey News Network I}. (tff/i i9}; 3 II I”. "If (it/f, Inf/f. 'll/C/jiri. 1/ '.r, V. if: ff}? f?',; 'dr) (if: if} if. {I if {if a Hf x??? r' I 2(i. I; I J/ 'ri)) f f r' j(r'e? -'-‘e'."'r: Tr (i, (l 'i', " J) r?I U I {3554. 1fo Eff-f- t'y E! if}; .311. (i. Ki“? Kr: 'i,).').' f/li/ll _l),':ivi'/:"l,).', Jr}: (ft j if Elli: 'if,' J??? its: J. I (,?ff IE4; (h 2? ":isl “in! / ”I. J}: 3.1 "fi1 E! r. _ir'pf(' TE r231 'At' {'2 l I]: iiii?hfifil2'; " .. Jjiii?,7r"i'yfif) f? yi: of '59.»; fl" 'ifif] if??? .4 if} If). is. Je. Ilti't( If f 2'. [ {'22 , 'r.' iyV Ay (if/if)) {I Eff (ii") .5: E3??? 'rl.)) Eff-{1M1 W's: .. if? ::~:- .i.'!' " Egg: 3Q" 3.3.5331] IE. " H2252??? (tj) 3.3;- {I fi' Cl (i; 33-5: .llfr. 7’33; ’fét' J) I)" 532'. ",),'i)fli,' 'i)i, ‘f.i:"l': if; FF. 2/ "/f. 2/2- (iff;' _ .J Err/.4 THE STANDARD Monday, April 9, 2007 Stephen can-on - - . _ Join: qumill Advertising Director . . Consumer Sales and Services Director Kalvin Reid Debi Wiebe Editorial Page Editor . Community Relations Director 17 Queen Street, St. Catharines L2R 565 Tel: 905684-7251 Fax: 9056tM.6032 Published daily since April 21, 1891 Previous attempts by French and British forces to take this ridge resulted in 19.0,000 casual- ties - but no success. The Ger- mans held strong. After the French and British fail- ures, the task of securing Vimy Remembering our heroes from. Viniy '43 A French plan to defeat the Germans targeted a small escarp- ment in northern France, fortified by a series of German pillboxes, dugouts and trenches since the fall of 1914. The seeds ofa nation were sown upon the backs and sacrifice of Canada's soldiers wars, fighting for the British. But the four divisions of the Canadian Corps stu1pbornly stuck together in the early years of the war. By April 1917, things were not going well for the Allies. Casual- ties were piling up and there was little progress in beating back the German threat. . Today is a monumental day in Canadian history. Many will argue that although Canada got its independence from Great Britain on July 1, 1867, it was on a faraway battle- field tm April 9, 1917, that Cana- da became its own nation. ' -"fir£'ri.‘r': Canadian troops entered the Great War, the war to end all ')),i)'ij"i. 39:2 3.3 E? r C I ' i ') '_/jr, y. 3;;- (3,1 i:li(j,"fii'ji: ft? 'I.'I , _ If/' n- "I. (if Jr) Vi. Eff. @7110 Jii5tatittartt The Standard, published by the Niagara Newspaper Group, a suhéidiaw of Osprey Media LP (f, if}? "yy'). Ty.' Iii}; ))j,i)C' 3." f, If J2? EEC-:32 it? if} ff. Kiri If]??? I) j) Andrea Kriluck Managing Editor Paul MoCuaig' Publisher 1325'. 2:42; Pi; JI' 'ill).' Ciii'. ih1 12:5.- if H. 'r' They all fought for Canada, for our freedom. Many of them were young men at the time, some still in their teens, but upon their backs, upon their sacrifice, the seeds of a nation were sown. /),', Jr'-'-'.-.' ')'i,j'iff,f,'; (fem The 'tolk 10,000 casualties, in- cluding 3,598 dead. Over the course" of a week, al- most 1,000 Canadian guns con-' sistently rained more than a mil- lion shells - 50,000 tonnes of explosives - on the German troops entrenched atop the ridge. Then the infantry attacked. In the early morning hours of April 9, Canadian soldiers streamed up the hill, following a path cleared by gunfire and hand grenades. Four Canadian soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions that day - three of them posthumously. Ridge was handed to the Canadi- an Cdrps. What ensued was a well-planned and executed mili- tary operation of 100,000 soldiers, a tactical strike that is perhaps Canada's greatest moment on a fitild of battle, if not our history. By the evening of April 9, a large portion of Vimy Ridge was in Canadian hands. Within three days, the Canadians had taken the entire thing. The artillery barrage on Vimy Ridge began April 2 after exten- sive preparations for the attack. f/t If; We are éternally ia:iiii." If. "f/i?? '.r7 "are: 21's?! {U '/)" "if: I? 'ri,'. 'r. I l/ 'j if 53.1 (i: (l It via; 'i/h '33-'21: K ii'))' If fl 'jj.'. 9.35%?) l 1/2; r12; iii-LITE: if Hi. (lj),':: II We: “r2 [,3- 0.: if? Fifi; it}: {.“r'. 1.1:|:|_ '. i'il f V. "k? 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