Tens of thousands of Canadians, including nearly 3,600 high school students, will travel to France this weekend to commemorate the 90th anniversary of one of the most significant events in Canadian history: the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Each of the students will wear replica uniforms, emblazoned with the name of one of the 3,598 Canadian soldiers who died during the assault on the heavily-fortified German position on April 9, 1917.

"It gave Canada tremendous international face and respect because it was a real underdog story," said 17-year-old student Jack Crowley, "and we came up and accomplished a task that no one thought possible."

Crowley will be wearing a First World War uniform bearing the name of Pte. Thomas Arkell.

"He was from Hamilton, Ontario. He was a powder maker and he was 19 years old," Crowley said of Arkell.

The students were asked to learn all they could about the dead soldiers they will represent.

Daniel Maillet, 17, said 21-year-old Lance-Cpl. Peter B. Armstrong was an only child from Montreal whose mother died shortly after he did on the battlefield.

"I'm not going to be reading the history this time. I'm going to be walking where history happened," Maillet said.

"To represent somebody who has no one left to represent him now is going to be quite emotional. When I saw his signature I said, 'I'm going to be there for you buddy.' It's (going to be) a tear jerker."

As well as commemorating the anniversary of the battle, the April 9 ceremony marks the rededication of the restored Canadian memorial on the battlefield.

"My great grandfather fought there and I got to read his diaries," said 17-year-old student Elizabeth Muggleton, who will be representing Pte. William H. Whitehead.

Muggleton never got to meet her great-grandfather, who passed away before she was born. But Muggleton said she feels proud that she will be following in his footsteps, as well as Whitehead's, on the site of the battleground this weekend.

More than a 100,000 Canadians fought in the battle for Vimy Ridge.

In the attack, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps jointly advanced on the ridge, as they came under heavy fire from three German defensive lines. The main position was in Canadian hands by the end of April 9. And during the three to four days that followed, the Canadians pushed the German front line east until it was a safe distance from the Ridge.

After three days of fierce fighting, there were 10,602 Canadian casualties, including the 3,598 dead.

They were "ordinary Canadians often doing the extraordinary," said Canadian War Museum curator Tim Cook in Ottawa. "And I think that if we can understand those Canadians and what they did, maybe we get a better sense of our own collective past."

With a report from CTV's David Akin