The Canadian National War Memorial – ‘the Response’

24 students from Hampstead School in London travelled to Ottawa, Canada and Washington D.C, USA, as winners in the Their Past Your Future Commemorative Visits Competition, commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The group visited museums and other sites of historical and political interest in Ottawa and Washington to explore Canadian and American history and culture, as well as providing the opportunity to talk to Canadian veterans about their experiences. The National War Memorial, also known as the Response and unveiled by King George VI in May 1939, is dedicated to all Canadians who have served their country in war. The remains of an unknown Canadian soldier were laid to rest in a sarcophagus on the south side of the Memorial on 28 May 2000. The students considered all of the memorials and methods of commemoration that they saw throughout the trip and their own responses to them.