Vimy Memorial

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFCC80" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8e8e3.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="04095810.png" border=0 width="149" height="129" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Voyage of SV Sea Star</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FF9900" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04500c82dwnjbj.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Adventure on the high seas</B></FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#3366FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>   |     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventure on the high seas"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Niagara 35 Mark 1 for sale"><U>Niagara 35 Mark 1 for sale</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Latest news"><U>Latest news</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" 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India"><U>great-grandfather Arnold Henry Grant Kemball</U></A>. Born into a military family, educated at Wellington College, Kemball graduated from Sandhurst in 1880. His legacy includes letters and photos of life on the Northwest Frontier, British Columbia and his final years in the Great War. As we have been sailing around the world I've been working on a book on his life.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="57493df0.jpg" border=0 width="147" height="223" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Kemball on his way back to India, Malta,1880,    </div> <bR> <bR> <div>   <IMG SRC="5875be70.jpg" border=0 width="347" height="231" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> 2nd D.C.O. Belooch Reg't 1885</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="5768acf0.png" border=0 width="138" height="207" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> 1888 with 5th Gurkhas                <IMG SRC="578bfc70.jpg" border=0 width="191" height="199" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> hunting,Kashmir 1894</div> <bR> <div>  <IMG SRC="570d7b40.jpg" border=0 width="215" height="180" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  while on a ski trip in Norway, Kemball met and married Vivi Sundt, 1895 </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="581bf010.jpg" border=0 width="447" height="257" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Crossing the Lowari Pass, Northwest Frontier</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="589b13f0.jpg" border=0 width="433" height="319" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> destroying a fort on Northwest Frontier</div> <bR> <div> After serving 30 years in the Indian Army, my greatgrandfather retired in 1910 as CO of the 5th Gurkas.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="56e57b30.jpg" border=0 width="343" height="179" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Gurkha signalers saying goodbye  to Col.Kemball 1910</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> <div>  After one false start on Kootenay Lake, the family hacked a fruit farm out of the bush in Kaslo, BC. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="58447240.jpg" border=0 width="327" height="292" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Arnold, his daughters Dorothy and Gerda, his wife and her sister, 1912</div> <bR> <bR> <div> By the summer of 1914 fruit was being harvested, but when war was announced in August, Kemball signed up. He lead the 54th Kootenay Battalion(<A HREF="http://www.54thbattalioncef.ca/WARPAGES/Ops1915.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.54thbattalioncef.ca/WARPAGES/"><U>click for link to excellent website on the 54th Kootenay</U></A>) overseas in 1915 and they reached France by August 1916. The battalion saw action in the Somme and then moved to near Vimy. A large gas raid was planned and postponed several times due to unfavourable winds.Since the element of surprise was lost, Kemball tried to get the raid cancelled. He left battalion headquarters at 0440 and fearing stiff opposition, the 56-year-old led his men over the top at 0540 on March 1st, 1917. During an armistice, the Germans returned his body for burial.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="57fe63d0.jpg" border=0 width="230" height="317" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  one of last photos of Lt-Col. Arnold Kemball, CB DSO</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="55f3ad80.jpg" border=0 width="570" height="216" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> preserved trenches at Vimy</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="54f58020.jpg" border=0 width="344" height="258" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> the original sandbags have been replaced by cement </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="55b7b150.jpg" border=0 width="379" height="277" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  German machine gun emplacement</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="566942f0.jpg" border=0 width="404" height="303" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> craters resulting from mining operations </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="56ac0f80.jpg" border=0 width="448" height="248" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Villiers Station Cemetery 1917</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="58552450.jpg" border=0 width="338" height="325" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Villers Station Cemetery 2006</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="561464a0.jpg" border=0 width="326" height="330" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  St. Eloi Abbey destroyed by WW1 shellfire  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="56399330.jpg" border=0 width="409" height="307" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Vimy Memorial undergoing renovations</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="55223ff0.jpg" border=0 width="291" height="255" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Vimy Memorial March 1, 2006</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>