NEW - Why Newfoundland Starts Canada Day With the Dead

In Newfoundland, Canada Day doesn't begin with fireworks. It begins with Memorial Day and the memory of a generation of young men sent over the top at Beaumont-Hamel, France, one hundred and ten years ago tomorrow. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment numbered eight hundred going in. The field between the trenches was maybe three hundred meters wide. Most of them never made it across. This conversation puts that history into the present tense, from a new Danger Tree built by Memorial University engineers and installed at the battlefield on the eve of the anniversary, to the story of a Christmas Day truce when soldiers on both sides put down their rifles and played soccer in no man's land. It is heavy material for Canada Day Eve, and exactly the right kind. Topics: Memorial Day Newfoundland, Beaumont-Hamel, Danger Tree, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Canada Day history GUEST: Tim Powers Originally aired on 2026-06-30