A group of local kids are helping preserve records of the lives of fallen soldiers, and Kemptville Public School (KPS) Principal John Bourne says he’s proud of the work they’re doing.
The two Grade 6 French Immersion classes at KPS are contributing to The Hill 70 Project, an initiative to memorialize the Canadian soldiers that died holding back German forces near Loos, France in August 1917.
“It doesn’t get more real-world than dealing with real soldier data,” Bourne says, “and we have the opportunity to teach Canadian history lessons and why remembrance is so important at the same time.”
The students work by going over photocopies of hand-written documents from when the soldiers were still alive. Each student was assigned a single soldier whose remains still haven’t been found.
“This project makes me sad because they died, but happy that we can remember them,” explains student Molly McCool. “In a way, that keeps them alive.”
“The work we are doing is very important,” adds classmate Cara Kean. “We are telling the stories and bringing back memories of lost soldiers.”
We’ve reached out to the students’ teacher, Robert Lachance, to learn more about the project and the work his students are doing.