We went to the Vigil 1914-1918 last night. There wasn’t a ceremony leading up as I had thought there would be, but it was a worthwhile experience nonetheless. We arrived in time to take the kids to look at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at the National War Memorial itself before the projection started. We didn’t know any of the names that were projected while we sat there but we did have time to speak about the sacrifices of the soldiers, about Dr John McCrae (writer of the poem In Flanders Fields), and the importance of remembrance. At supper we did the math: 68,000 Canadians died in the First World War; each name will be projected over 7 nights; each night lasts for 13 hours and the names are projected at the top of the memorial in pairs (they remain on the lower part of the memorial afterward as well). As you watch the pairs appear at approximately 8 second intervals, you get a sense of the massive loss of life, particularly since the total Canadian population according to the 1911 census was only 7.2 million.
The Vigil continues from dawn to dusk each night leading up to Remembrance Day and finishes at dawn on that day with the name of the soldier who died just 2 minutes before the Armistice went into effect at the 11th hour of the 11day of the 11th month in 1918.
