Passchendaele Memorial Garden Canada

Between 1914 and 1918 more than 650.000 men and women from the then-British Dominions of Canada and Newfoundland served in uniform. Canada paid a high price for taking part in the First World War. Mare than 240.000 Canadians became casualties, including more than 66.000 who lost their lives. Many of them fell in the area of Ypres, Belgium, where the former battlefields are as significant to Canada as those at the Somme and Vimy Ridge. In April 1915, Canadians endured the first gas attack of the war during the Second Battle of Ypres. In June 1916, they took part in the Battle of Mount Sorrel, near Zillebeke. During the Battle of Passchendaele, Canadian troops fought for the ruins of the village of Passchendaele and the surrounding ridge in October and November 1917, earning an impressive victory at the expense of some 16.000 dead, wounded and missing. This Canadian Memorial Garden is a tribute to all those who gave their lives during these campaigns.

During the Great War, thousands of soldiers from every corner of Canada would see action on the battlefields of Europe. This is why plant species and cultivated varieties whose natural range originates from six major Canadian ecoregions were brought together in this garden of remembrance. The Canadian slate chips between the plants serve as a unifying element.

The artwork is a granite stone from Europe representing the battleground upon which so many lost their lives. The unhewn back and contours represent the hilly terrain and the muddy, hostile Passchendaele landscape that the soldiers here faced. The polished front is engraved with five feathers, representing the fallen indigenous soldiers and a symbol of courage and spirituality for many indigenous peoples of Canada. The artwork is the creation of Luxembourg-based Canadian sculptress Heather Carroll, born in England from a Canadian Inuit mother and a Scottish father.

On Canadian Western Red Cedar planks a passage from the poem "Passchendaele 1917", by Canadian poet and veteran of the Battle of Passchendaele Harry Amoss, has been engraved. Of the three major actions near Ypres which Canadians participated, the Battle of Passchendaele resulted in the heaviest casualties.
" . . . war has tripped illusions Buddha-wise
Has tossed the tinsel on the wind astrew,
And with gaunt fingers rent the robes of pride
Till life in naked worth confront the eyes . . . "

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Source

• Text: Luc Van Waeyenberge
• Photos: Luc Van Waeyenberge
• Informatiebord Kasteeldomein Zonnebeke