"It will be over by Christmas"...

Monday, April 3. Sunny in Vancouver. Prospect for Vimy weather on Sunday, sunny, 19 C.

Tomorrow afternoon Fellette, Craig and I, along with about 45 other Seaforth-involved people get on a Dutch KLM plane in Vancouver and fly overnight to Amsterdam. We spent the night in Amsterdam and on Thursday morning get on a charter 60 passenger bus and drive to Amiens, France for three nights, the last day being the actual Vimy 100th Anniversary Ceremony at the memorial. Security will be tight and I have low expectations of seeing very much as we will be low on the priority list. Regardless, it will be a great experience just being there.

After the ceremony this Sunday at Vimy we board the bus and drive  to Ypres, in Belgium. Spending three nights there, visiting the areas that The Seaforth Highlanders fought in during the 1914-18 war.

Then to Amsterdam for a farewell dinner and then we three fly to Britain to trace of Robins Family Roots a bit before retiring home two weeks from tomorrow, Tuesday April 18.

I served in the Seaforths from 1952/3 as a cadet and joined the Militia at 17 in 1952, leaving as a Company Sergeant Major, [WO II] around 1969/70.

- Grampa Robins was in that area, although not in a combat role as was our second cousin, Billy Robins, son of Grampa Robin's brother, Uncle Bill. Billy Robins won The Military Medal during that terrible battle, he was a corporal.

- My cousin Peggy Cowley's mother, Auntie Rosie had a brother killed at Vimy on the first day of the battle. He had joined the Army seven moths earlier and was 23, married.

We should be in email contact daily and we hope to be in a position to send daily. Lots of pictures, I hope! It is extra special for Fellette and I being with Craig, who is a great photographer and is also my Tech Support and that is what I need on a travel like this with various email connections!

Below is my grandfather, [Craig's great grandfather], Herbert Henry Robins, before going overseas to France in 1916. He was 46 and lied about his age to get in. His son Frank, my father, was five years old. They had immigrated to Canada four years earlier.