'We will never forget': Memorial Day participants show respect, pride

Wearing a chest full of medals and a forget-me-not flower attached to a Newfoundland flag lapel pin, Lin Paddock leaned stoically on the steel fence at the National War Memorial Friday, doing what he's done all his life remember.

• 'Ordinary people who did extraordinary things': Beaumont-Hamel anniversary marked in N.L.
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"Growing up, Beaumont-Hamel was drilled into me by my parents. It was Memorial Day before Canada Day," said the Robert's Arm native and retired commander in the Canadian Forces.

• Read our full Beaumont-Hamel 100 coverage

This was no typical Memorial Day, however.

Friday marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in France, and the Newfoundland Regiment's near annihilation near the tiny, war-ravaged village of Beaumont-Hamel.

The regiment saw plenty more action, and suffered grievous losses later in the war, but Beaumont-Hamel has become a symbol of the tragedy and loss suffered by a generation of young men during the First World War.

'Intense and monumental'

Weather conditions were ideal as large crowds gathered at the War Memorial and The Rooms in St John's to mark what historianshave oftendescribed as one of the defining moments in Newfoundland and Labrador's history.

It's tremendous to see us come together to pay respects to a sacrifice, a slaughter, that happened 100 years ago.- Lin Paddock

For Paddock, it was a moment he couldn't miss.

"It's tremendous to see us come together to pay respects to a sacrifice, a slaughter, that happened 100 years ago. We say at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them, and that's what today is about.

"As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we will never forget," he said.

People of all ages attended, illustrating how deeply the losses of the First World War runs through the culture and fabric of the province.

Allison Moyle brought along her young children, Georgia and Allister, to witness the solemn ceremony at the cenotaph.

They later placed forget-me-nots that were grown in their own garden at the base of the monument.

She described the ceremony as "intense and monumental."

"We just want to instill in our kids to be proud Canadians and Newfoundlanders, and to always celebrate and remember the Battle of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel."

The crowds were respectful and patriotic as anthems played, wreaths were laid and soldiers and peace officers marched.

Connections to the past run deep

It's often been said that no community in the province was left untouched by the carnage of the First World War, and it wasn't hard to find those connections on Friday.

Ralph Dale of St. John's visited France and Belgium in May, stepping foot on the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel where his father's half-brother, Allan G. Steele, was wounded a century ago.

He was overcome with a sense of remembrance and reverence Friday.

"I feel like I'm reliving the past through my father's half-brother and through the other veterans. The ones who died and the ones who lived," he said.

Craig Pardy also came in honour of his ancestors.

His grandfather, Stuart Wellon, enlisted with the regiment in 1914, but contracted tuberculosis before going into battle, and spent the remainder of the war in hospital.

His great-uncle James Mahaney served with the Royal Navy but never came home. He died from pneumonia and is buried in Ireland.

Pardy said it's hard not to consider the senselessness of the fighting at Beaumont-Hamel.

"It's heartbreaking. Every time you read the story or hear anything about it, how they went over the top needlessly. It was just a schmozzle, a bad command decision."

'We'd different for it'

One of the most common reactions to the war is that Newfoundland and Labrador lost a generation of men who did not have a chance to contribute to their homeland.

What might they have become? Could they have helped this small, isolated and economically depressed land through a very dark period that followed the war?

That's a question Elaine Hann asked herself as she observed the ceremony.

"We got on with it, but we're different for it," she said.

"So I' here with my family because I honour that memory and we all do."