Students participate in Mottershead Battlefield Tour 15-23 February 2025

Article submitted by By LCol (Dr.) Andrew Brown, Associate Professor of History, Tour Leader

The Mottershead Battlefield Tour (Northwest Europe) occurred from 15 – 23 February, over Reading Week.  The trip went quite well, owing to the excellent students selected to attend and the dedication of the tour staff.

The tour was blessed to experience decent weather for almost the entire trip, unlike the incessant rain and wind encountered last year.  This made for a conducive learning environment, with the cadets paying close attention to the presentations at each stop.  The students responded with enthusiasm when encouraged to participate in discussions.  In particular, the staff urged cadets to empathize with the difficult tactical challenges that wartime leaders confronted at various battle sites, and to appreciate how deficient planning can imperil operational success and risk lives (for instance, as at Dieppe).  To this end, the cadets participated freely and keenly when staff initiated conversations about such matters.  Where opportunity allowed, staff endeavoured also to build pride in RMC alumni contributions to Canadian military success (eg. Gen Crerar, LGen Simonds, LCol Cecil Merit, VC, command and staff of the Canadian Corps in the First World War, etc).

Dr. Katherine Rossy conducted an exercise during which she had students take photos of moving inscriptions families had engraved on the headstones of their fallen family members.  Near the end of the tour, she had students read those inscriptions out loud to the group.  This proved one of tour’s most moving moments.  Those inscriptions really drive home how painful it was for families to lose their sons, fathers, and brothers.  No one was left without misty eyes.

In keeping with the tour’s tradition, the cadets participated in the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres to commemorate those who fell in Belgium.  The Last Post Association, which runs the ceremony, was very happy to see the tour return and, in honour of the RMC cadets, changed the location for the ceremony’s wreath laying to the south side of the monument, in front of the panels commemorating the Canadian dead.  During the ceremony, the cadets made a strong impression with their professional bearing and solid drill.  They proved fine ambassadors of RMC and Canada.  As they marched off parade, people in the crowd began to clap—which protocol for the ceremony disallows.  But it was a natural reaction to seeing a group of professional looking men and women in uniform.

The tour benefited a great deal from the assistance of parties in France and Belgium that have become aware of the annual MBFT.  Several museums, Parks Canada-managed sites, and notably the French military cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorette (near Vimy) opened doors to the cadets that typically remain shut to the public.  Cadets therefore entered the grand chapel as well as the ossuary that contains the bones of thousands of unidentified soldiers, plus the sacred remains of soldiers from various French wars and the ashes of holocaust victims.  Consequently, the MBFT delivered a unique and privileged experience that that the general public cannot access.

Officially, the tour is not quite over yet.  On 5 March, the participants will gather to consolidate their thoughts on what the tour meant to them as citizens and as future officers.  At this session, the cadets will produce personal art—drawing, poems, reflections—to capture their feelings.  Dr. Rossy will see that some of these see publication in The Arch/L’Arc.

The tour cannot have succeeded as it did without the dedication and passion of Doctors Howard Coombs, Kevin Brushett, and Katherine Rossy.  They each have a real knack for connecting with cadets and a gift for bringing to life the battles and struggles that Canadian service members experienced so long ago.

Finally, we must express thanks to Ian and Rosemary Mottershead for making possible this invaluable experience.  Word has spread throughout the student body that the MBFTs in Northwest Europe and Italy are incredible educational and developmental experiences.  The Mottershead’s generosity has made a substantial and lasting impact on the young ladies and gentlemen who were fortunate enough to be selected to attend this exceptional professional development event.