Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day 2023

As a child of the 50’s, preparation for and attendance at Remembrance Day ceremonies was exciting and significant. My Dad and two uncles had served in World War II so it was very exciting to watch them parade down our main street with their comrades proud with the thought there would be no more war. In school we prepared by memorizing and reciting “In Flanders Fields”. Though I am sure our teachers told us the story of the poem’s origin, now in my 70s, I have lost memory of those details and wonder if you may have too.

John McCrae, The author of “In Flanders Fields” was born in Guelph, Ontario to Scottish parents. John was described as warm and sensitive to people and animals. A bright student, he showed interest in the military and in writing poetry. He was the first student from Guelph to win a scholarship to the University of Toronto. There he completed his medical training while also publishing many poems and short stories. He joined the military and led a battery with the Canadian field artillery during the South African war. In 1914, when Britain declared war with Germany, John McRae enlisted - along with the 45,000 other Canadians stepping forward to serve. He was 42 at the time so was posted as a medical officer. In 1915 while in Ypres, Belgium, his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was brutally killed in action. Lieutenant Helmer’s remains were buried in a makeshift grave in a field where many crosses marked the graves of so many unknown soldiers. The poppies were just beginning to bloom. The next day John, while sitting on the footboard of an ambulance reflecting on the tragedy of the day before, penned “In Flanders Fields” in 20 minutes. It is the most widely read poem in honour of those who have given their lives in the hope for peace.

I would invite you to read his beautiful poem with me every day we pray for peace.

-Maureen Condon, Associate, Sisters of St. Joseph

Greater Love Hath No Man Than This

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13

Most families have stories to tell about the Second World War or others that have followed since, whether it be about battles fought and won, the pride of country or way of life that led men and women to sign up and join the fight against the ‘foe’.  Less talked about are ones of soldiers who returned but remained devastated by trauma and closed off emotional responsiveness. Yet the story that causes me to observe a Moment of Silence every November 11th is of a less universal nature … or perhaps we simply come to understand universal truths by way of our own experience. 

Uncle Dave, 36 years old when he signed up in 1942 and already a married man of ten years, was trained initially as a cook and mechanic. He ended up in the Calgary Highlanders on the front lines of northern France after the D-Day invasion. In the meantime, the love of his life, Flo, who had been unable to have children, went from the West to visit Dave’s family in Hamilton, Ontario.  While there, she decided to seek medical assistance for her fertility issues so they might have a family upon Dave’s return. Tragically, she developed sepsis following the required surgery and did not survive.

Dave was killed on the battlefield three months later.  The family learned that a few of his fellow soldiers had gone off to a tavern in town and returned to the trenches inebriated and very loud and disorderly. Afraid that the noise would attract the attention of the ‘enemy’ and have them all killed, Dave jumped out, grabbed them and pushed them into the trenches. They survived; tragically, he did not. Dave is interred in the Calais Canadian War Cemetery near St. Inglevert, France. My Grandmother requested that the John 15:13 verse appear on the gravestone. 

Did heartbroken Uncle Dave no longer care about surviving once he knew his wife had gone? Had life lost its meaning? Or was his selfless act to save another an expression of his inner understanding that we are here to care for each other, to reach out whatever the personal cost and offer ourselves in service to the ‘neighbour’. That no matter the circumstance, we are here to bring about peace and love? We will never know what Dave thought, but his life and death assault me each Remembrance Day and demand that I engage in deep introspection about my life and capacity to serve in selfless and loving action.

-Susan Hendricks, Associate | Peterborough Neighbourhood

Epitaph

Remembrance Day arrives tomorrow and with it many thoughts of lives lived, and lives lost. This poem is so lovely, it simply had to be shared. Perhaps you already know it - if not, I think you will find it resonates so deeply - as within it contains such beauty.

Poem shared by Sister Ann Marshall, csj

Epitaph - By Merrit Malloy

When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on in your eyes
And not your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

Header photo: UNSPLASH Luigi Boccardo

Remembrance Day 2021

Sister Mary Boere Remembers…

Every Remembrance Day I pause and remember what the Canadian soldiers did for Holland. That country and its people are forever grateful to Canada, and Canadians. I visited one of the cemeteries where soldiers lay row upon row. The cemeteries are well kept. At that time, I was told that classes of school children attended to sections of the cemetery and kept them weeded and looking beautiful.

Being born in 1937, I have a lot of childhood memories of the war especially the later years of 1943-45 as do other Sisters, when we were school aged.  Mind you, we had to be educated during the winter of 1944 by a minister of our village who would come to our home twice a week to teach us our reading and math. I have vivid memories of that time. Another scary event occurred when the railroad behind our house was bombed. For the longest, time, whenever I heard airplanes go over our head, something fearful triggered in me.

In our evening prayers tonight, the first prayer was powerful,

“You laid down your life that we might live; be present to those on battlefields.” 

These words certainly convey a concrete image, especially when we know that wars and strife and battlefields still rage in the world’s countries. We remember them all in prayer.

-Sister Mary Boere, csj

In April 2019, Canada’s Parliament proclaimed May 5th ‘Dutch Heritage Day’ after receiving unanimous support for the motion. This day honours the sacrifices that Canadians made during the Second World War in liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation, while also recognizing the contributions made to Canada by those of Dutch heritage. The day itself, May 5th, was chosen as it is Liberation Day in the Netherlands, further reinforcing the ties between the two nations.

Every May since 1953, the Canadian Tulip Festival has celebrated the Dutch-Canadian connection.

In gratitude for helping liberate the Netherlands during World War II in 1945, Princess Juliana presented 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada. Since then, the tulip has been a symbol of friendship between the Netherlands and Canada. The Dutch royal family still annually presents 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada.