There's something new growing at the Ridgetown Legion.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle at Vimy Ridge, members of the community and local veterans gathered at the Ridgetown Legion Tuesday afternoon to plant an oak tree.
The oak tree planted at the Ridgetown Legion to commemorate the Battle of Vimy Ridge. April 11, 2017. (Photo by Natalia Vega)
The oak tree is a descendant from one of the acorns taken by a Canadian solider named Leslie Miller, after the Battle at Vimy Ridge.
"This is quite a step in history," says Marian Patterson, branch president. "These gentlemen went through conditions that we can't even begin to imagine, and so many of them gave up their lives for our freedom."
One veteran at the event, Sheridan Atkinson, has a special connection to the centennial celebration that happened this past weekend.
"My father [served] in Vimy and he was lucky to come home, his brother -- my uncle didn't make it," he says.
Atkinson has been to Vimy a few times and has seen the tunnels those soldiers used during the battle.
"It was really scary and as they say there were inscriptions carved in by various people," he says.
Patterson says Ridgetown is actually home to a few soldiers who had fought in the battle. For that reason the legion will be planting a second oak tree in a local cemetery.
"We're looking at planting the other tree in Greenwood Cemetery," she says. "We will probably have another small ceremony at that time."
It's unknown when the second oak tree will be planted in Ridgetown, but Patterson says they're hoping to do it within the next couple of months.