4 Dudgeon boys leave for Vimy, 3 return: Manitobans honour family who fought in battle 100 years ago

One hundred years ago, the Battle of Vimy Ridge began and many Manitoba families made great sacrifices.

In honour of the significant anniversary and to remember the lives lost, commemorative events are taking place across the province and the country.

• The Battle of Vimy Ridge, as it happened
• Why Vimy matters: Peter Mansbridge on a battle that defined us

A smaller gathering in Morden, Man., brought members of a Manitoba family back home to honour their relatives who fought on that cold and snowy Easter Monday 100 years ago.

"It's just a way our family can pay tribute, not only to our four family members but also all of the veterans of World War I and especially those who sacrificed their lives," said Dan Dudgeon, who is from Morden but now lives in Vancouver.

Four Dudgeon boys left their families farms in the Pembina Valley of southern Manitoba to make their way to the seven-kilometre ridge in France where thousands lost their lives.

Dudgeon said his grandfather's two brothers, Andrew and Pete, and one cousin returned home to the farm. However, another cousin, James, didn't make it home.

"It's important to all of us, the Dudgeon extended family, to pay tribute to our long ago but not forgotten heroes," he said.

• Soldier for a day: Winnipeg students prepare for centennial Vimy Ridge trip
• 'Canadians take Vimy Ridge': A soldier's diaries recount battle preparations and horrors of war

The family gathered at the cenotaph in Morden, located about 105 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. They laid a wreath, read In Flanders Fields and take a moment to honour all of the soldiers who were involved in the war and think about the sacrifices they made.

"Talk a bit about the four Dudgeon boys and what it must have been like for them to leave the farm in Manitoba and head to France on this great big adventure," Dudgeon said Sunday morning.

"And then pay a special honour to James with the playing of the Last Post and a moment of silence."