The Vimy Oak

New plaque for Vimy oak in Wellington Park

In April, 1917, after the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France, Lieutenant Leslie Miller gathered a pocketful of acorns from the desolate battlefield and sent them home to his family in Scarborough, where they were planted on the family farm. Lt. Miller was born on October 5, 1889 and enlisted in 1914. He served in the Signal Corps, often laying out communications networks in the dead of night with only the stars to guide him. He returned home after the war and replanted the Vimy oak saplings on his own plot of farmland, which is now the site of the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church. Ten of those saplings survived, and are now towering oak trees. Just a single French oak remained on Vimy Ridge after the First World War, and in 2018 one hundred and twenty saplings grown from the trees in Scarborough were repatriated to Vimy as a living memorial to honour those who served in the Great War. The effort to replant the oaks was complicated by the presence of unexploded ordnance from the First World War, and great care had to be taken when digging the holes for the saplings. Another mishap occurred when the contractor hired to plant the saplings did not follow the correct procedure, so they had to be dug up and replanted yet again. The trouble did not end there. A massive windstorm knocked over the trees before they could be staked. Despite this, all but 12 of the trees survived, and the dozen casualties were replaced with new saplings.

Another part of the Vimy Oak Project was the distribution of saplings across Canada. Then MP Neil Ellis secured four of them for the Quinte region, and one of these is now growing in Wellington Park. On Monday, January 28, a new plaque was installed at the base of the tree. The plaque has a QR code that points to a website detailing the story of the Vimy oaks. On a cold morning, under a blue sky, Ken How unveiled the plaque, accompanied by Wellington Legion members Peter Campbell, Buck Buchanan and Mitch Smith, and Belleville mayor Neil Ellis. The date was chosen because it was the anniversary of death of Lieutenant- Colonel John McCrae, author of the war memorial poem In Flanders Fields, in 1918. Coincidentally, it was also the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the maple leaf as the National Flag of Canada. The tree in Wellington Park continues the tradition of honouring all those who served in the Canadian military. Peter Campbell recited In Flanders Fields and bugler Robin Everhardus played the Last Post. Following a minute of silence, Ms. Everhardus played the Rouse at the end of the dedication ceremony.