Students from Walkerton District Community School will be taking part in V-E Day activities in Europe to start off the month of May.
To mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, a group of 40 students and 4 staff members will be travelling to Europe for festivities.
History teacher Nathan Troyer says that it’s special for the students to get involved in such a historically significant event.
“I think the students will get a lot of appreciation for the history of Canada and what we were able to accomplish, especially with V-E Day and their influence. There were Canadian soldiers going through to liberating that country, and just the veterans there and help us develop into the country we are today,” he said in a phone interview with Bayshore News.
They’ve also partnered with Bruce Peninsula District School for the trip. Upon the Bluewater District School Board’s approval of the trip, the school has completed fundraising to help cover the cost per student and staff.
Starting in Amsterdam, the group will also visit Passchendaele, Vimy, and Paris during their travels, which will be from May 1-9th.
The group will be visiting the UNESCO World Heritage windmills in the Netherlands, a tour of the Anne Frank House/Museum in Amsterdam, a tour of Vimy Ridge, and sightseeing in Paris, which also includes a stop at the Louvre, which is home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
“The kids are getting really excited for this. Every time we bring it up, it’s just smiles and they’ve all got questions. Some of them have never travelled out of the province,” said Troyer. “So getting on an airplane and going to a whole new country, and new cultures, and all the stuff that they’re going to experience is just going to be amazing for them. They’re really keyed up about going and super excited about it.”
During World War II, the Canadian Army moved out of northern France following D-Day. They were tasked with liberating northern France, before moving on to Belgium. After then, they made their way to Antwerp and further into the Netherlands.
The group from Walkerton will have four teacher chaperones in tow, and Troyer says that it wasn’t difficult for some of his colleagues to volunteer.
“Every teacher that I talked to [about the trip] was like ‘hey, if you need somebody…’ so I had lots to pick from to be able to organize this,” he said.
Along with Troyer will be fellow history teacher Drew Bomhof, art teacher Angela Lawrenson, as well as a retired teacher.
Troyer was approached by the tour company that’s in charge of the trip, and let him know that a V-E Day ceremony being held in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands would involve students from across Canada and offered for them to get involved as well. Student volunteers will be taking part in the ceremony on May 4th and 5th, with one student co-emceeing the event, while some classmates will be carrying flags and placing wreaths.
The trip took quite a bit of community support to come together. Both the Walkerton Legion and the Chesley Legion, the Walkerton Kinnettes Club and others helped with fundraising and helping the students pay their way.
