As winner of the Vimy Pilgrimage Award for 2021, Hyunjun (Matthew) Lee was rewarded with an educational trip along with 17 other Vimy award winners to Ottawa during the week of Remembrance Day.

Lee, a grade 12, Cochrane High student has returned from his trip with a deeper understanding of Canada’s role in global conflicts particularly the First World War and the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Matthew has powerful memories of the Remembrance Day Ceremony in our nation’s capital. The trip proved to be b both educational and emotional and it was an opportunity to bond and create life-long friendships with like-minded peers. 

The winners, all teens between the age of 15 and 17 landed in Montreal and then enjoyed a two-hour bus trip to Ottawa in which they played games and got to know each other. They bonded because of their shared excitement about the trip and the tours that lay ahead.

Matthew Lee says the highlight for him was, “Actually seeing the Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa, in person. If anyone else goes to Ottawa around the same time frame, I highly suggest you go see it. It’s a beautiful ceremony.”

Lee says the Remembrance Day Ceremony which takes place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is very powerful and moving. He says, “To actually see the Remembrance Day Ceremony happening and you see all members of like Cadets or different military forces you actually see that in person and you hear the song In Flanders Fields, it’s just really impactful.”

Another tradition that Lee witnessed and was memorable was, “After the Remembrance Day Ceremony has ended, it’s kind of something that Canadian’s do, they actually go to the memorial during nighttime and they lay poppies around the memorial itself. And all you see is a bunch of poppies paper, plastic and it’s just really beautiful how you just see all the poppies lying around in the darkness.”

Additional highlights of the trip were visiting the National War Museum, and National Art Museum. Lee said they were given the opportunity to tour numerous memorials in Ottawa including those in memory of the First World War, Second World War, and the Korean War. The group also visited the Walking With Our Sisters memorial for murdered and missing Indigenous women. Lee says visiting all the memorials was, “Super calming and super beautiful. It was just an amazing opportunity to actually see them in person.”

Finally, Lee speaks of the friendships he made during the trip. “The people who are in the program just made it 1000% better. The 17 other people I got to actually meet in person, were truly the best individuals I ever met. I still talk to them today and those are friendships and experiences that I will cherish forever.”

The Vimy Foundation is succeeding in preparing youth for the future through the learning of the past. The Pilgrimage Award winners now have a deeper understanding and a personal connection to the importance of Remembrance Day.  For Matthew Lee and all the young folks in the group, they will share their experience and the importance of the day in the years to come.