Restored Vimy Memorial: Large attendance expected for unveiling

This is heartening (full text subscriber only):

When Veterans Affairs unveils the restored Vimy Ridge memorial in France, it expects as many as 25,000 to be present.

The monument, which has been undergoing a $20-million restoration since 2004, will be unveiled Easter Monday, on the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. By coincidence, the important and decisive battle also took place on an Easter Monday.

Veterans Affairs is letting the information get out slowly, but so far, it's clear there will be at least 3,598 Canadian school children present, one to represent each of the Canadians who died in the battle. That number could go as high as 6,000 if all those who've paid a deposit end up going, said Bob Mercer, the assistant deputy minister in charge of the project...

The April 9 commemoration will mark the largest event the monument has seen, but this time there will be no veterans from the First World War and few from the Second World War...

The monument is, in fact, a memorial to all Canadians who died in the First World War and have no known grave -- a staggering 11,285 names appear [emphasis added]. Architect Walter Allward, who started the project in 1925 and completed it 11 years later, built it with beautiful white Seget stone from Croatia, which gives it a luminous effect all over the countryside at Vimy...