Editing Battle of Vimy Ridge (section)

===Vimy Memorial===
{{main|Canadian National Vimy Memorial}}
[[File:HM King Edward VIII unveiling the figure of Canada on the Vimy Ridge Memorial.jpg|thumb|King [[Edward VIII]] unveiling the figure ''Canada Bereft'' on the Vimy Ridge Memorial|alt=In the black and white photograph, the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial is captured. A figure stands atop a stage draped in flags, positioned in front of the poignant statue of Canada Bereft. A vast crowd of thousands of people are gathered and are facing towards the stage.]]
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is Canada's largest overseas war memorial.<ref name="CWM">{{Citation |title=WarMuseum.ca&nbsp;– History of the First World War&nbsp;– After the War |publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation |access-date=16 May 2009 |url=http://www.museedelaguerre.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/vimy-memorial-e.aspx |archive-date=6 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706190821/http://www.museedelaguerre.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/vimy-memorial-e.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> Located on the highest point of the Vimy Ridge, the memorial commemorates Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War and those killed in France during the First World War with no known grave.<ref name="VAC Vimy"/> France granted Canada perpetual use of a section of land at Vimy Ridge in 1922 for a battlefield park and memorial.<ref name="DFAIT"/> A {{cvt|250|acre|ha|adj=on|order=flip}} portion of the former battlefield is preserved as part of the memorial park that surrounds the monument. The grounds of the site are still honeycombed with wartime tunnels, trenches, craters and unexploded munitions and are largely closed for public safety.<ref name="VAC Vimy">{{Citation |title=The Battle of Vimy Ridge&nbsp;– Fast Facts |publisher=Department of Veterans Affairs Canada |url=http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=memorials/ww1mem/vimy/battle |access-date=8 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621231902/http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=memorials%2Fww1mem%2Fvimy%2Fbattle |archive-date=21 June 2008 |df=dmy}}</ref> A section of preserved trenches and a portion of a tunnel have been made accessible to visitors.{{sfn|Hucker|2007|p=286}}

The memorial was designed by Toronto architect and sculptor [[Walter Seymour Allward]], who described it as a "sermon against the futility of war".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hucker |first=Jacqueline |year=2008 |title=Vimy: A Monument for the Modern World |journal=Architecture Canada |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=43 |url=https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/66168/vol33_1_39_48.pdf}}</ref> The memorial took eleven years and cost $1.5{{spaces}}million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|CA|1.5|1925|r=2}}}} million in present terms) to build. The unveiling was conducted on 26 July 1936, by [[King Edward VIII]] accompanied by President [[Albert Lebrun|Lebrun]] of France and a crowd of over 50,000 people, including at least 6,200 Canadian veterans and their families.<ref name="VAC Vimy"/>{{sfn|Evans|2007|p=126}}{{refn|The [[Canadian War Museum]] cites a crowd of 100,000.{{sfn|Brown|Cook|2011|pp=37–38}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Cook |first=Tim |date=2 April 2017 |title=The event that recast the Battle of Vimy Ridge |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/04/02/the-event-that-recast-the-battle-of-vimy-ridge.html |work=Toronto Star |location=Toronto |access-date=8 April 2017 |quote=Excerpted from Vimy: The Battle and the Legend |archive-date=27 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527071300/https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/04/02/the-event-that-recast-the-battle-of-vimy-ridge.html |url-status=live }}</ref>|group="Note"}}

[[File:Ghosts_of_Vimy_Ridge.jpeg|thumb|left|''Ghosts of Vimy Ridge'', painting by [[Will Longstaff]]|alt=The painting depicts the Vimy Memorial atop a hill ravaged by battle. The contrast between the darkened ground and sky accentuates the stark white of the memorial. In the foreground, countless ghostly figures, adorned in military attire, traverse the battlefield, evoking a haunting sense of the past.]]
The [[Prime Minister of Canada]], [[Mackenzie King]], was absent as he had not fought in the war and was reluctant to meet veterans. Mackenzie King's harsh treatment of Byng during the 1926 [[King-Byng Affair]] caused many veterans to despise him and he felt that a war veteran from the Cabinet should attend in his place.{{sfn|Brown|Cook|2011|p=42}}<ref name="VAC Vimy"/> On the day, four federal government ministers and four [[Canadian Army]] [[General officer]]s attended the unveiling.{{sfn|Brown|Cook|2011|p=50}} Edward VIII thanked France, in English and French, for its generosity and assured those assembled that Canada would never forget its war missing and dead.{{sfn|Brown|Cook|2011|pp=47–48}} A restoration project began in 2004, which included general cleaning and the recarving of many inscribed names. [[Queen Elizabeth II]] rededicated the monument on 9 April 2007, during a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle. [[Veterans Affairs Canada]] maintains the memorial site.{{sfn|Winegard|2007|pp=83–85}} The commemoration at the memorial on 9 April 2017 for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge was attended by the Prime Minister of Canada, [[Justin Trudeau]]; the [[Governor General of Canada]], [[David Johnston (governor general)|David Johnston]]; [[Charles, Prince of Wales]]; [[Prince William, Duke of Cambridge]]; [[Prince Harry]] and the [[President of France]], [[Francois Hollande]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39541940 |title=Vimy Ridge: Royals commemorate defining WW1 battle |date=9 April 2017 |work=BBC |access-date=9 April 2017 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111232723/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39541940 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gg.ca/document.aspx?id=16771&lan=eng |author=Elizabeth II |title=Message from Her Majesty The Queen on the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge |date=9 April 2017 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |access-date=9 April 2017 |archive-date=10 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410051849/http://gg.ca/document.aspx?id=16771&lan=eng |url-status=live }}</ref>