Carved in stone on Davidson’s cenotaph are names of nearly century-old French battlefields: Ypres, Vimy,  Somme, and Cambrai.

Also carved into the monument are the names of Davidson’s soldiers who died in these battles.

Each year, on Nov. 11, the names of Davidson’s casualties of the First and Second World Wars are read aloud during Remembrance Day services.

“We will remember them,” the community proclaims.

The people of France also remember these casualties of the Western Front.

“Be assured that the sons your village left in our soil are well loved and their graves well cared for. Their families are dear to our hearts. They did not sacrifice in vain,” Etienne Robin, Mayor of Mézériat, wrote in a letter to the Town of Davidson.

“This letter is a modest homage from us to the long lost soldiers of Davidson who fought for the freedom of so many French people they did not even know and would never know,” Robin states.

Robin was compelled to write the letter to the Town of Davidson after a conversation with his childhood friend Claude Weil.

Weil, who grew up in France, now lives in Saskatoon and works at the Saskatchewan Research Council. During a drive to Regina, Weil stopped in Davidson intending to do some shopping at Home Hardware.

He noticed the cenotaph on main street.

Weil was appalled by the number of casualties Davidson suffered on the Western Front.

He wanted Davidson to know that the people of France appreciate the sacrifice.

“I think it left an imprint on the psyche of French people that free-spirited Canadians, country building people, would leave a country that was theirs to go fight for another land,” Weil said during an interview Wednesday. “It’s extremely remembered.”

Weil, who served three years in Israel in the Middle Eastern conflict, said conflict is something all of us have knowledge of. He lost three great uncles in the First World War and he was an eight-year-old boy when France was still at war in Algeria. He recalls as a schoolboy, the entire school would march with First and Second World War veterans to the cenotaph of his French village. He said World War II veterans were still relatively young and people were still so sad.

France, which had military conscription until a few years ago, understands.

“The generations are still very much aware of what war does,” Weil said.

“I respect and I have an appreciation for Canadians who came from so far away, who didn’t know what they were getting into. I started to look at the numbers and the casualty numbers were very high in Davidson and I was somewhat disturbed,” Weil said.

To read more please see the Nov. 5 print edition of The Davidson Leader.