Petrolia Discovery is about to become a battle field.
The board has agreed to allow the Cadet Corp to stage an event marking the 100 days of World War One.
Captain Carl Russel, Commanding Officer of the Cadet Corps says the commemoration will feature a recently constructed    10-meter-long replica of a WWI fighting position complete with eight connected fire trenches for riflemen and machine gun team.
To the rear of the fire trenches will be the support echelon camped in ‘turn of the century’ designed Bell Tents with reinforcements.
Preparation for the demo has been over a month in the making with the cadets siting, hand digging, and reinforcing the fire trenches, much in the same manner as the WWI trenches had been constructed.
It has been an outstanding challenge which has promoted, physical fitness, determination, field engineering and team building skills, says Russel.
Cadet Sergeant Bryce Blancher of Petrolia says “the weather conditions and rain of the fall have posed a particular challenge in maintaining the trench. It gives really good insight into what difficulties and hardships the soldiers went through”.
On Oct. 27,  cadets will be acting in the persona of the soldiers they have researched for the project and will be interacting with visitors by giving background information on them and talking about the hazards of army life in the trenches.
Petrolia Discovery will also offer tours will be conducted from 10am – 2pm exhibiting the development of Canada’s oil industry.