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They Proved Their Mettle (Revised) Their warm blood ran freely into the cold and slimy muck Les Boches on one side Les Canadiens sur l’autre Truly an army was never more poorly equipped …and inadequately trained miles and miles of muddy trenches Fighting rats, cold rations, bitter weather, and mustard gas Armed with almost useless Ross rifles they fixed bayonets These men of the prairies, the dry dust bowls they knew and loved so well rose as one on that April 9th morning Boots wet through, puttees useless They slogged on and over the barbed wire towards an unseen enemy, against superior numbers and vastly superior equipment Ran because their lives depended on it …and exhorted by their non – coms with their silver whistles shrilling out to attack Yes, their blood ran freely that cold April morn in 1917 They gave their lives for freedom so that you could live free so that I could live free Free to write this epitaph The cost of freedom ran high that day on Vimy Ridge It was just a hill, a ridge 500 feet high Yet it signaled the beginning for Canada apart from the yoke of England Freedom’s cost? 7004 killed 3598 wounded |
Additional Notes:
"Boches" is a derogatory french/English slang word for a German soldier, meaning "block-head."
This is a true story. This was the first time, April 9, 1917 that the Canadians went into battle
under the command of their own officer rather than a British officer.
The Ross Rifle portrayed here was of inferior quality and frequently jammed.
The Canadians entered the First World War in 1914 as part of the British Empire.
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