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| Yes, that's a sheep pasture between the parking lot and the Memorial |
We stayed overnight between Lens and Douai, in the heart of the WWI battlefields. There were signposts representing the front line at certain dates, there were Commonwealth graveyards everywhere, and of course there is the Vimy Memorial, which was the first stop of the day. As you can tell from any pictures you may have seen, it is very large with minimal decoration. Apart from the monument itself, there is also an interpretation centre, a series of preserved bunkers and trenches, and plenty of roped-off areas that still haven't been cleared of unexploded ordinance. It is all cared for by employees from Veteran's Affairs Canada (their uniforms are identical to Parks Canada uniforms except for the logo). The surrounding terrain was remediated by the French planting trees on the landscape as it was left after the war, so it basically looks like a motocross course with trees planted on it.
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| The Courcelette Memorial |
Our second goal was to try and find the grave of Pte. Cecil Alvernon MacKinnon, 26th Bn., Canadian Infantry (New Brunswick Regiment), killed on 16 September 1916 in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. He was my grandfather's oldest brother. The Commonwealth War Graves website (mirrored at Veteran's Affairs) says his cemetery is the "Vimy Memorial". So we looked on the memorial (for all those Canadians with no known grave elsewhere), and we could not find him (we also checked under "McKinnon" and "McKenna"). So we asked at the visitor's centre, and they frowned and said they'd never heard of such a cemetery. So we then checked the two cemeteries on-site (Canadian Cemetery #2 and Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery), with no luck. Unfortunately, the town also has several Canadian and Commonwealth cemeteries, with no indication where they are (e.g. we saw one on the side of a controlled-access highway and couldn't figure out how to get to it). So we carried on to Courcelette to see the battle site (checking the Warlencourt Cemetery just up the road, but he wasn't there either).
So, no luck in finding Great Uncle Cecil. I'll do some more research and see if we can find him in November, when we're planning to be back in the area.
Hi Craig : You will not find a known grave for Cecil Alvernon Mackinnon. BTW his parents used the name Mckenna in the 1901 and 1911 census of Queen's county NS. You are correct that he was killed in action at Courcelette on 17 Sep 1916. He is engraved on the Vimy Memorial as C.A. Mackinon. We found it when we were there for the Vimy 100 celebrations. Cecil is probably in the Courcelette British Cemetery as an unknown soldier. At the time, casualties were quickly buried in a makeshift grave and their ID disk was sent back to HQ. After the war they were exhumed and moved to an established cemetery like Courcelette Cemetery. With no evidence as to who they were they got a headstone marked "Unknown Canadian Soldier". My daughter and I have been searching for two WW1 family members for a long time and hopefully our research will eventually pay off. You are probably closer to Cecil than me because I think he was a cousin of my G Grandfather. The other member we are looking for is Samuel Maxwell Mckinnon, a G Uncle, killed at Arleux-en-Gohelle. Bob Mckinnon.
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