Private J. Gallant was the son of Joseph L. and Madelene Gallant of St. Alexis de Matapedia, Québed, Canada. He was a member of the Canadian Infantry and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge on the 9th of April, 1917. He was 24 years old. I do not know who Private Gallant was, but I share his name and country, and 94 years after his death, I began work at Vimy Ridge National Historic Site, to tell his story and that of the other 3,597 Canadian who died that day on those fields of battle. 67,000 Canadian were killed in the First World War, about 25,250 of whom were never found. Over 250,000 were wounded physically, and many more were forever psychologically scarred by the horrors and experiences of war. May Private J. Gallant, and all of those who gave of themselves in the First World War, rest in well-deserved peace.

Ryan Gallant