Can you dig it?
A group of cadet engineers and other volunteers said yes and last Saturday they dug 50 feet of a WW i-era trench as part of an education project for the Port Moody Station Museum.
"It was an amazing day, the Engineer cadets from McKnight's unit [Augustus McKnight, a PoMo engineer who died during the war] did a tremendous amount of work, it was fun and amazing and they want to come back," said organizer Guy Black.
But more work is needed as the trench that will depict a soldiers' life in the great war when it is completed is only half-way done.
This Saturday, Sept. 27, from noon to 4 p.m., more diggers are needed. Bring water and work gloves and a willingness to get dirty.
If all goes well, the first phase will be done for Remembrance Day ceremonies in November, with the remaining portions open by spring, and in place to coincide with anniversaries for WWI that lasted from 1914 to 1918.
The McKnight Trench will be 70 feet long and eight feet deep. As well, there will be an above-ground portion that museum visitors will be able to walk through to get a sense of what life was like in the war.
John Goheen, a principal of Rochester elementary school, who has won awards for tours of remembrance he leads for the Royal Canadian Legion, is overseeing the project.
Goheen hopes the trench being built for the museum will provide an eye-opening look into the life of a vet from 100 years ago, and from this, people will learn not to glorify war but to promote peace.
