Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Canadian Remembrance Tourism with Samantha Cowan
In this ‘Trench Chat’ we talk to Canadian Tour operator Samantha Cowan about battlefield tourism coming to the Great War battlefields from Canada. What inspires Canadians to come? What does Vimy mean to them? Samantha shares her years of experience with her tour company TheBattlefieldTours.
8 Comments on “Canadian Remembrance Tourism with Samantha Cowan”
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Old Front Line 
What was a great comment about how the Great War many not register so much because I seem to recall you saying to me once that about 80 to 90% of the Canadians on the Western Front had been born in England……But a great trench chat!
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Indeed, in the original CEF 70% of the men were born in the U.K.
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Enjoyed this one Paul! Great to have yet another different perspective.
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Thanks Matt.
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Hallo Paul,
I’m a frequent listener to your Podcast and just wanted to say Thank You for your great work! I’m from Germany and work as a battlefield guide myself. It is very interesting to hear your episodes. I learned a lot. May it be some literature from allied veterans which was never translated into german ( there is also a huge amount of forgotten literature in german. Today are Jünger, Remarque and Renn the best known authors. But there is more then them) and is almost unknown by us. The interviews are also extremely interesting. There is always a new insight for me. The culture of commemoration is way bigger by you guys. So again, thank you and keep up your brilliant work.
Best regards from Deutschland
Frank
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Vielen Dank, Frank. Really appreciate your comments and I’m glad you are getting something from the podcast.
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I’ve had the pleasure of attending two battlefield tours with Samantha’s father, Ian. The first was in 2011 where we toured Caen, Dieppe, the Normandy beaches, Ypres, Somme and Arnhem. The second was a tour of the battlefields in Italy and Sicily in 2013 (Anzio, Monte Cassino, Ortona, Pachino, among others). Both were fantastic experiences and I’m thrilled that the business has continued to thrive. Awesome work all around!
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Very interesting conversation with Samantha. I was surprised to hear the suggestion that battlefield tourism was somehow immoral. If that were the case then arguably anyone who makes a living out of military history, authors, filmmakers, museum staff etc. could be viewed as immoral!! Was the painting you referred to by Richard Jack?
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