In September 2021, a Director from the National Wall of Remembrance Association (NWORA) suggested a way in which to add prestige to the project of establishing the National Memorial to The Fallen along the waterfront in Kingston’s Macdonald Memorial Park, adjacent to the Murney Tower Museum of Ontario.
By planting an oak tree from acorns of the descendant of the Vimy Oak Tree planted on the campus of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), a permanent link will be made between RMC, Vimy Ridge and the memorial itself.
The oak to be planted at the new memorial is a direct offspring of the Vimy Oak Tree located on the campus of RMC – across the Kingston Harbour – which commemorates RMC graduates who served at the battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917.
In turn, the RMC oak was propagated from acorns collected on Vimy Ridge in April 1917 during the Second World War, where 3,598 Canadians died.
In August 2022, the opportunity to collect acorns from the RMC oak was missed as it appears that squirrels had a different plan for these acorns.
In October 2023, four acorns were collected by a postdoctoral fellow at RMC’s Environmental Sciences Group with the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering of RMC.
These acorns were cold stratified for approximately two months to improve germination rates, and were then planted into pots of soil and allowed to grow in a protected setting.
By November 2024, they had grown to approximately 30 cm.
The National Memorial To The Fallen is scheduled to be unveiled in the summer of 2025, and a new Vimy Oak Tree from RMC will be transplanted on site when it is safe to do so. The memorial is funded by donations and advertisements in the NWORA annual magazine Remembrance/Souvenir.
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- The ‘Vimy Oak Tree’ located along the Kingston harbour on the campus of RMC. Donated by the Classes of 1967 and 1973
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- Acorns from the ‘Vimy Oak Tree’.
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- Two acorns out of the cold stratification process. The roots can be seen coming out of the acorns and ready to be planted into pots.
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- Oak seedling approximately one month old.
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- Two of four acorns collected in 2023 made it to the seedling stage. This tree is to grow more before safe transplant takes place. It will have to be given protection and maintenance for a few years before it can be left on its own to grow for decades to come.
Origin of the Vimy Oak Tree at RMC
The Oak tree planted here commemorates those Graduates of the Royal Military College of Canada who served at the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9-12 April 1917). Their contribution was significant – RMC graduates provided nearly 23% of the Commanders and Staff of the Canadian Corps at the time of the battle.
At 5:30 in the morning of 9 April, the four Divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked the German defensive line above the Douai Plain in Northern France, advancing into driving snow and rain. By noon, three of the Divisions had reached their objectives, 4500 yards into the German lines – the fourth, 4th Division was to continue its battles for ‘Hill 145’ which it captured on 10 April, and ‘the Pimple’, not taken until 12 April. Approximately 81,000 Canadian soldiers were involved in the battle, of whom 3,958 were killed in action or died of wounds after the battle, and 7,000 others suffered wounds.
A gift of the Classes of 1967 and 1973, the Oak is a descendant of acorns gathered on the battlefield from a fallen English Oak shortly after the battle. Collected by Leslie H. Miller (later commissioned in the field in 1918 whilst serving with the Canadian Signals), a school teacher and tree farmer, the acorns were sent home to Canada where they were planted on an Ontario farm gifted to him by his father, (now part of the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church property). Ten trees grown from the original acorns still stand as part of the woodlot of the original property which Lieutenant Miller called “Vimy Oaks Farm”.
Chêne de Vimy: du CMR au Mémorial national aux disparus
En septembre 2021, un directeur de l’Association de la Muraille commémorative nationale (AMCN) a suggéré une façon d’ajouter du prestige au projet d’établissement du Mémorial national aux disparus dans le Parc mémorial Macdonald de Kingston, adjacent au Musée de la tour Murney, en Ontario.
En plantant un chêne à partir des glands du descendant du chêne de Vimy planté sur le campus du Collège militaire royal du Canada (CMR), un lien permanent sera établi entre le CMR, la crête de Vimy et le mémorial même.
Le chêne qui sera planté au nouveau monument commémoratif est un descendant direct du chêne de Vimy situé sur le campus du CMR – de l’autre côté du port de Kingston – qui commémore les diplômés du CMR qui ont servi à la bataille de la crête de Vimy en avril 1917.
À son tour, le chêne du CMR a été propagé à partir de glands récoltés sur la crête de Vimy en avril 1917 pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, où 3 598 Canadiens sont morts.
En août 2022, l’occasion de récolter des glands sur le chêne du CMR a été manquée car ils semble que des écureuils avaient un plan différent pour ces glands.
En octobre 2023, quatre glands ont été récoltés par un stagiaire postdoctoral du Groupe des sciences de l’environnement du Département de chimie et de génie chimique du CMR.
Ces glands ont été stratifiés à froid pendant environ deux mois pour améliorer les taux de germination, puis ont été plantés dans des pots de terre et laissés pousser dans un environnement protégé.
En novembre 2024, ils mesuraient environ 30 cm.
Le Mémorial national aux disparus est prévu être dévoilé à l’été 2025, et un nouveau chêne de Vimy du CMR sera transplanté sur place lorsqu’il sera sécuritaire de le faire.
Le mémorial est financé par des dons et des publicités dans le magazine annuel Remembrance/Souvenir de l’AMCN.
A marvellous idea! My grandfather fought at Vimy…survived Hill 70, and Passchendaele ………wounded by shrapnel which finished his war in December 1917.