Somber Remembrance

Somber Remembrance

Signal Hill Sunrise Ceremony, St. John’s Newfoundland.

This was taken on Canada Day. Many Newfoundlanders mark the date of July 1st not as Canada Day, but as Memorial Day, the date of remembrance for the Beaumont-Hamel battle.

On July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme in World War I, 801 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment rose from the British trenches and went into battle at Beaumont-Hamel, nine kilometers north of Albert in France. After only 30 minutes the regiment was devastated. Only 68 men stood to answer the regimental role call the next morning.

In November of 1916 His Majesty King George V granted the title “Royal” to the Newfoundland Regiment. No other regiment in the British Empire was awarded this signal honours. Today the site of the battle is known as Newfoundland Memorial Park.

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