Did you know that there were a whole regiment of Newfoundlanders there too? At that time they were a British colony, not part of Canada. They take their military history very seriously here - that's why my university is called Memorial University. And I recently learned that Memorial Stadium was built by the people of St. John's as a memorial to those who died in the wars...each working person in St. John's contributed 1% of their wages for one year to build the stadium. There are a whole series of streets, just near my house, with these middle eastern sort of names - Suvla, Cairo, Suez - after researching the battles that Newfoundlanders fought at, I now know why.
I think the Newfoundlanders would want you to know that you have something in common - as horrible as it is - a little piece of shared history.
