Better Than the Best

When we arrived at Beaumont-Hamel, in a lot of ways it was like coming home.  Seeing the Newfoundland and Labrador Flag waving alongside the French and Canadian Flags was pretty fantastic.  We stopped for a picnic lunch (first time in Europe that we didn’t eat lunch on the bus) and then made our way to the visitors’ centre. 

Hunter was a “Scub” and we were planning to invest him in front of the great Caribou here at Beaumont-Hamel.  When I mentioned our plan to Carl, he cautioned me that this was a VERY busy place, and it was unlikely we’d be able to stay at the caribou long enough for the ceremony.  He encouraged me to ask the staff, which I did.  Here response was one I won’t soon forget “You’re all from Newfoundland – you’re home now.  Do as you please”. The experience is not one that I can really put to words, but I think the pictures do a pretty good job…

After the tour it was time for Hunter’s investiture.  Adding one more member to the world’s largest peace movement seemed an appropriate tribute to those who died here at the Battle of the Somme.  It was a tough ceremony to get through, and very few of us had dry eyes by the end of it, but we were all immensely proud to be Scouts in that moment.  Quite the crowd ended up forming around us, but we hardly noticed.

With that done we had one more ceremony to conduct, and one that we knew would be even more difficult.  Our beloved Group Commissioner, Scouter Ed “Baloo” Thorne, had planned to join us on this trip, and we knew he was most looking forward to this moment, standing together at Beaumont-Hamel.  Our youth asked to leave behind a Baloo crest so that he could at least be there with us in spirit.  This became a theme going forward, and thanks to the youth there are Baloo crests at memorials in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

We left Baumont-Hamel in silence, lost in thoughts and reflecting on our experience.  Hard to imagine there was still a LOT more left to experience this day!


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