London history students reflect on VE-Day from battlefields of France

Jack Sutton · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 4:36 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

A radical of past students from King's University College are reflecting connected the end of the Second World War from the battlefields wherever galore Canadian soldiers gave their lives.

Thursday marked the 80th day of Victory successful Europe Day as ceremonies were taking spot astatine warfare memorials crossed the region.

"When we larn astir World War I and World War II successful class, we larn astir the numbers of soldiers who went over, but this truthful acold has been a precise idiosyncratic trip," Keegan Rudman said Thursday arsenic the radical was travelling adjacent the Somme, a large First World War conflict ground. 

"So acold this has been a precise affectional experience."

The students are enrolled successful an experiential learning people astir the wars that received $27,000 from the Canadian Battlefields Foundation and the Legion National Foundation. The wealth helped subsidize a 2 week travel to visit war memorial sites successful France and Belgium.

One portion of homework for the students was to learn astir a soldier, and contiguous the information astir their beingness to the group, an workout that had greater value aft visiting graves and seeing wherever the idiosyncratic fought and died. 

"I chose idiosyncratic from London, Ont. and helium went to Central High School. His sanction is Major Charles Edward Sale," pupil Mia Fayle said. "I thought it would beryllium important to retrieve idiosyncratic from wherever I grew up. I person my presumption time and I consciousness it volition beryllium precise emotional." 

The students said seeing the battlefields, and walking done the trenches near Beaumont-Hamel, present a memorial tract dedicated to the Newfoundland Regiment that was astir wiped retired determination during the Battle of the Somme successful 1916, has brought past to life. 

"Being capable to spot the existent trenches and yet picturing it from that alternatively than conscionable comparing photos, I deliberation was rather impactful," Fayle said.

Both Rudman and Fayle want to beryllium precocious schoolhouse teachers erstwhile they decorativeness their studies astatine King's and judge this acquisition volition marque them amended teachers 1 day.  

"I person my ain photos, my ain stories from these battlefields that we learned truthful overmuch about," said Rudman.  "I've present been to places similar Bény-sur-Mer, [a place] that was never truly talked about, and that's a sedate tract of 2000 Canadian soldiers who died successful the Battle of Normandy."

The radical is heading to Ypres, Belgium next, to be the Menin Gate Ceremony to commemorate the fallen soldiers of World War I. They volition beryllium laying 3 wreaths astatine the memorial connected behalf of those that helped marque the travel possible.

"An awesome punctuation that I heard 1 of my professors say was that WWI and WWII not lone took the soldiers' lives, but it took their identity. It's lone close to retrieve their names and stories alternatively than conscionable simply done the numbers.'"