The teacher and his Grade 11 history class in Clavet, Sask. — about 30 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon — spent the last couple of weeks in October digging a replica trench used by soldiers in the First and Second World Wars.
“Because of the pandemic we’ve been encouraged to do things different and get outside more,” Nickel said.
“Doing things that are going to be really hands-on are going to help students consider what we’re talking about.”
Measuring nine metres long and about two metres deep, the trench was dug entirely by the students and Nickel. They used shovels, picks and axes to get the job done.
Been there, done that…try sleeping in one overnight at -20 C below or stay warm enough. Brrrr.
Been there, done that too. We were nice and toastie in our “digs” at -20 C. Especially after digging them. Camp Farnham, PQ. Always keep a round up the spout too, to “work” any frozen action and a condom over the business end of your rifle, to keep the snow out. To keep warm, eat. Protect your feet.
Slept in the snow a lot at the drill rig in northern Saskatchewan at -40 C or lower, with just a ground tarp and 3 Star bag. Under the stars and the dancing Northern Lights. A Coleman to light the cards in the crib game with my partner. Cold is a frame of mind. Just break any wind and eat lots. Or is that the other way around?
Also been there, done that too! Wainwright, Dundurn, Shilo, Petawawa, Meaford. Built and slept in lean-to’s at -30; mosquito’s so bad on Mattawa Plain that even the dragonflies became fat and lazy. Trenches that were never dry. Digging an Iltis off of a snowbank so high that all four wheels were more than a metre off the ground. Hot coffee or hot juice were a luxury. Mine was all-domestic service, so I never saw the really difficult conditions.
I despised digging trenches then filling them in. 40 years ago CFB Shilo had a ridge that was trenched and they seemed to leave it alone.
It’s a start. Digging them was the best part of them compared to “living” and dying in them. Good on him.
Kind of poignant–I hope the teacher mentioned that the majority of the young men who did this under fire weren’t much older than the students who were digging in. I hope the more thoughtful students kept this in mind as they experienced this (I realize that every one of them probably felt a little miffed about having to dig a trench since it is hard work when you do it by hand–the soldiers 104 years ago probably felt the same when their sergeants and officers gave them the orders to dig in after a long march with full kit and bandoliers full of ammo to the “Front”–except failure to do so didn’t result in a bad grade–but a horrible death for the soldier and his buds from machine-gun fire and artillery barrages)
And poison gas. Don’t forget the chlorine, phosgene, lewisite and mustard gas…
my grandfather was 16 digging his first trench. got shot thru twice and gassed. got sent back from the front , but had to return .
and went back for round 2 in 1939 .
he was at Ypres and Passendaele as a Brit . Italy and France as a Canadian and landed at juno beach on DDay , a fuel truck driver for the tanks
My 15-yr-old uncle, a bugler used in gas attack warnings, volunteered to go to the front and was out on a work patrol in the night extending a trench when he was shot and killed by a German sniper. I visited his grave in the middle of a farmer’s field in France – the boy from Gananoque on the mighty St. Lawrence lies in one of the small cemeteries among a farmer’s crops.
Fire that “teacher” now! Plus no union rep and support. What the hell is he doing?
A Welsh friend whose job before this pandemic was guiding tours mainly to the Front. Every couple of yrs he would escort a group of Sask. cadets to the Cdn sites and he spoke very highly of the leaders and the cadets. God knows when any of those cadets will ever see the real thing again.
What? No suitable jungle in Sask to replicate the horrors of Vietnam? Just kidding. Major props to this “hands-on” teacher. And let me add … if this had been attempted here at my local “Distinguished School District” in N.CA … the teacher would have been suspended, harassed on Social Media, then terminated for forcing students to participate in the mechanism of War.
Here’s an attaboy for that teacher!
But now that the news is out they should expect a visit from a Ministry of Labour dink.
Jonathan Nickel, I would like to commend you for thinking outside the box and providing your students with an opportunity and experience they will remember for the rest of their lives. It is very clear to me that this really had nothing to do with digging a trench, but rather having your students, if even for a few short moments, stop and think about the sacrifices made by so many that they might be free to dig that trench. Your vision and understanding of the real meaning of education puts you in an echelon in and of itself.
We will never comprehend the horrific conditions, sufferings and sacrifices unselfishly made by so many men and women so that we can, and as you so amply had your students do, dig a trench.
Outstanding! I salute the teacher for his leadership. This is a lesson none of his students will ever forget. Well done!
yes 68, a teacher who knows how to teach
Brings back memories of digging trenches in Gagetown.
“OK, by morning, I want to see a trench in this dirt.”
[sound of shovels and pickaxes hitting solid rock]
“Sergeant, this isn’t dirt, it’s solid rock.”
“No, its dirt. Just dig around any rock.”
First time I saw the northern lights though.
You would never get city kids to do this. So much complaining about what a hardship it is.
Outstanding….I totally commend the teacher in this exercise…
…and as has been noted, these kids will NEVER forget.
Good.
At least a handful of people will understand what soldiers no older than they endured.
The rest of that generation can worry about gender ideology and what’s on Netflix.
The Teacher gets an A+. Hopefully its a little life lesson for the kids and maybe a blister or two.
I joined the Air Force to fight wars from the closest Holiday Inn to the front lines but it didn’t always work out that way. Winter Bush and Arctic survival training immediately followed “wings”. I guess an igloo is better than a trench though! Once, when landing after an 18-hour patrol we were bused out into the bush for a genuine survival experience and collected a couple of days later. So we Air Force types can offer at least a little sympathy for our ground-based compatriots.
Bravo to this teacher for exposing his students to the real world.
I’ve dug a few, too, fortunately always for training exercises. The worst ground was Salisbury Plain. We resumed wearing out our picks on the chalk when it had broken the mechanical diggers the Royal Engineers demonstrated for us. They had also drilled for us to use explosive to blast it so we could see that just left you a shallow round depression with some dust and chalk nuggets that you could bag (if you had sandbags) to build a sangar that would never be as good as real trench.
There’s chalk like that on the Western Front, too.