An oak tree descended from those that grew at Vimy Ridge will be planted at the Cenotaph in Creemore.
The Legion was selected to receive one of the oak trees that are being distributed throughout Canada and are being re-introduced to the site of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The Vimy Oaks Legacy Corporation is creating living memorials by repatriating saplings to Vimy Ridge. The volunteer run not-for-profit corporation is working to promote the memory and legacy of Canadians who fought in the First World War through the planting of saplings that are descendants of acorns gathered after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The acorns were collected by Canadian soldier, Lieutenant Leslie Miller, as a memento of the important battle.
During the battle, all structures and vegetation on the Ridge were destroyed by shell fire, but Miller found a half buried English oak tree and collected a handful of acorns.
He sent them home with instructions to plant them on the family farm in Scarborough.
Miller returned home two years later and was given a 25-acre parcel of his father’s farm. He transplanted the oaks onto his own lot, which he named Vimy Oaks Farm.
The property is now home to Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church, where several of the original oaks survive.
Because none of the original oak trees survived at Vimy Ridge, the Vimy Oaks Team is working, in partnership with the Vimy Foundation, to repatriate the trees, to help preserve Canada’s First World War legacy through the creation of a living memorial, planted in France for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
In January 2015, professional arborists began grafting cuttings (scions) taken from the crowns of the oaks and grafting them onto rootstock. The saplings are being grown at Connon NVK nurseries in Dundas, using an accelerated method.
On Monday, Legion members David Bruce Johnson and Norm Nordstrom drove to the nursery in pouring rain and thick fog to claim the new addition to the Creemore Cenotaph.
Nordstrom, who heard about the program from Lee Anning, contacted one of the Vimy Oaks Team members who was in Vimy at the time for the 100th anniversary of the battle. Nordstrom then submitted the application and said the location was key to getting a tree.
“They liked where it was going, that it would be shading the cenotaph at noon when it grows, even though I’ll probably be up the hill by the time that happens,” said Nordstrom with a grin.
Johnson said the tree is a very meaningful addition to the Cenotaph, which has undergone a recent revitalization.
“None of the people listed on the cenotaph were at Vimy Ridge but that doesn’t matter. The tree is a living reminder of what everyone went through,” said Johnson. “This links us to all of Canada.”