Remembrance Day

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Remembrance Day Remembrance Day HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: - Remembrance Day is a holiday celebrated in Canada every November 11 - It is a holiday that commemorates all the soldiers that have died in service since the Boer Wars of the late 1800s to the present day. - Remembrance Day was previously called Armistice Day - The first Remembrance Day was held in 1919 in commemoration of the end of World War One on November 11, 1918 at 11 am. (11th month, 11th day, 11th hour) - Over 100,000 Canadian soldiers died in WWI and WWII. - All government buildings will fly the Canadian flag on this day. - People will observe a two minute period of silence at 11 am to remember all the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in past wars, and all the soldiers who are currently fighting wars overseas today. THE POPPY - During the bombardments of the First World War, the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing poppies to thrive and grow rapidly afterwards. - After John McCrae's poem “In Flanders Fields” was published in 1915, the poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle. - The poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day and people wear them on this day as a sign of respect. John McCrae and “In Flanders Fields”: - John McCrae was a Canadian soldier/physician/teacher who first served in the artillery during the Second Boer War in South Africa from 1899-1901 - He enlisted for WWI in 1914 and was appointed brigade-surgeon to the First Brigade of the Canadian Forces Artillery stationed at Ypres, Belgium. - He wrote the famous poem “In Flanders Fields” in 1915. - It is considered one of the most popular and influential war poems and is still referenced today on every Remembrance Day in Canada. .
Recommended publications
  • In Flanders Fields John Mccrae’S War
    John McCrae’s War In Flanders Fields John McCrae’s War In Flanders Fields EDUCATOR’S GUIDE John McCrae’s War In Flanders Fields EDUCATOR’S GUIDE STUDY GUIDE FOR THE FILM TARGETED AGE LEVEL AND SCHOOL LEVEL JOHN McCRAE’S WAR: The guide was developed with secondary students in mind but IN FLANDERS FIELDS could be adapted to younger grade levels, and many sections would be appropriate for grades 4 to 8. Some chapters of the film might be inappropriate for younger viewers due to ABOUT THE FILM graphic/disturbing content related to war. John McCrae’s War: In Flanders Fields The First World War’s terrible Second Battle of Ypres has just SUBJECT AREAS broken out in Belgium. Canadian troops, stationed along History the Yser Canal, are under heavy fire... and the number of Social Studies casualties is mounting. Civics Literature Among the dead is young Alexis Helmer, killed early on the Medicine and Society morning of May 2, 1915, the victim of a direct hit from a Psychology German shell. Dr. John McCrae, a friend of Helmer’s, is there to pick up the pieces of the body and deliver a burial service PREVIEWING TIPS over the gun blasts. Rocked by the death, McCrae would It is a good idea to preview any film that you plan to show later pen one of the war’s most famous poems, “In Flanders to students. Note that if you are planning to show a part of Fields,” while looking out upon Helmer’s grave. this film to younger students as part of Remembrance Day activities, some sections are quite graphic and may not be John McCrae’s War: In Flanders Fields chronicles McCrae’s appropriate to that audience.
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  • In Flanders Fields”
    John McCrae and his masterwork, “In Flanders Fields” By Jeff Ball, Theta Xi '79 Prominently featured in Zeta Psi's Pledge manual is a grainy picture of a rather serious-looking fellow with a penetrating gaze. It is the same picture that hangs in the front hall of the Theta Xi chapter of Zeta Psi in Toronto, where it is flanked by 2 bronze plaques, bearing the names of the 25 Theta Xis who died in the Two World Wars. Why is this picture of Dr. John McCrae, Theta Xi, 1894, given such prominence in our fraternity's pledge manual and in Theta Xi's hall of honour? The simple answer is "He wrote a poem: 'In Flanders' Fields'" - but there is more to it than that. In the pages that follow, I hope to illuminate for those interested in the history of our fraternity something of the character of John McCrae and to suggest why this poem is relevant to us today. For the Zete chapters in Toronto and Montreal particularly, the First War was a turning point in our fraternity's history. Zeta Psi had been at the top of the fraternity world at both campuses since Theta Xi's historic founding in 1879 and Alpha Psi's establishment in 1883. We had weathered strong opposition.from establishment and radical alike, but we had thrived and grown and led the fraternity movements at Toronto and McGill through the turn of the century into the oughts and the teens. The First War posed a major threat to our success.
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  • John Mccrae, the Man Who Wrote in Flanders Fields
    Page 1 of 5 The Story Behind “In Flanders Fields” By Charles Magill, Reader's Digest Canada Originally Published: October 27, 2020 Originally Published in Reader's Digest Canada More than a hundred years after its creation, John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" lives on as a cornerstone of Remembrance Day. ILLUSTRATION: MIKO MACIASZEK John McCrae, The Man Who Wrote In Flanders Fields Early on the morning of May 3, 1915, John McCrae sat wearily near his field dressing station, a crude bunker cut into the slopes of a bank near the Ypres-Yser Canal in Belgium. A Canadian military surgeon, he had been at the French line for 12 days under incessant German bombardment, and the toll of dead and wounded had been appalling. From his position on the road along the canal running into Ypres, McCrae wrote: “I saw all the tragedies of war enacted. A wagon, or a bunch of horses or a stray man, would get there just in time for a shell. One could see the absolute knockout; or worse yet, at night one could hear the tragedy, a horse’s scream or the man’s moan.” The previous night he had buried a good friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, blown to pieces by a direct hit from a German shell. Now, as he sat in the early morning sunshine, he could hear the larks singing between the crash of the guns. He could see the rows of crosses in a nearby cemetery. The field where the cemetery lay was thick with scarlet poppies, their dormant seeds churned up by the guns, blooming despite-or because of-the carnage.
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  • In Flanders Fields - Story Behind the Famous Poem by John Mccrae
    In Flanders Fields - Story behind the Famous Poem by John McCrae Following the horrific death of his young friend - Alexis Helmer - during the Second Battle of Ypres, Major John McCrae (a Canadian medical doctor from Guelph, Ontario) wrote "In Flanders Fields." In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. McCrae's poem was published in the British magazine, Punch, in December of 1915. It was soon printed elsewhere, including the United States (then contemplating whether to join the war). During the late afternoon of April 22, 1915, the Second Battle of Ypres began. (The First Battle of Ypres—near a town in northern Belgium of the same name—took place during the autumn of 1915.) The Second Battle produced massive casualties: Finally, after four days of severe fighting, most of the Canadian forces were withdrawn on 26 April [1915]. About 6000 officers and men of the Canadian Division had been killed, wounded, captured, or had simply disappeared. ("Ypres: Inexperienced Canadians Hold the Line," article from The Canadian Encyclopedia online.) During June of 1915, McCrae was transferred to Northern France where he set up a hospital (referred to as No.
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  • “In Flanders Fields”— Canada's Official Poem: Breaking Faith
    “In Flanders Fields”— Canada’s Official Poem: Breaking Faith NANCY HOLMES EW COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD have a poem printed on their cur- rency, but Canada does. True, the font is so small you need a mag- F nifying glass to read it, but the poem is there on the new ten dol- lar bill, written in both English and French — it is the first verse of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields,” a poem that each November is recited in school gymnasiums and around war memorials in Canada and throughout many other English-speaking countries. The poem appears on the ten dollar note as part of the Bank of Canada’s “Canadian Journey” series. Although “Arts and Culture” is represented on the twenty dollar bill with Bill Reid’s sculpture The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, in fact each paper note in the series has an “Arts and Culture” feature. The five dollar bill has a quote from Roch Carrier’s short story “The Hockey Sweater” (“Le Chandail de hockey”) and the ten dollar bill, whose theme is “Remembrance and Peacekeeping,” presents “In Flanders Fields.”1 The poem appears because of its iconic sta- tus in relation to Remembrance Day, November 11. The poem is also English-speaking Canada’s most well-known verse; most Canadians can probably recite a line or two from it if from no other. Since the poem has achieved such a dominant position (one could even say it has been apotheosized), now is a good time to review its curious place in Canadian culture, to see how the poem works and what it says.
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  • The Red Poppy
    In Flanders’ Fields The Red Poppy McCrae's ‘In Flanders’ Fields’ remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever On and around 11 November each year, the Returned Services written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle League (RSL) sells millions of red cloth poppies for Australians to pin in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. on their lapels. Proceeds go to RSL welfare work. Why a red poppy? Í In Flanders’ Fields Colonel John McCrae, who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University in Canada before the First World War (WW1) (joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto), first described the red poppy, the In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blow Flanders’ poppy, as the flower of remembrance. Between the crosses, row on row, Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the Boer War as a That mark our place; and in the sky gunner, but went to France in WW1 as a medical officer with the first Canadian The larks, still bravely singing, fly contingent. Scarce heard amid the guns below. It was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, We are the dead. Short days ago and MAJ John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, him a lifetime. As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, MAJ Loved, and were loved, and now we lie McCrae, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, In Flanders’ Fields.
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  • Britain and World War I
    Transcript Britain and World War I Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Britain and its empire died in the fields of Flanders during World War I. In this video, Nick Dennis explores the impacts of the war on Britain through conversations with two experts on Britain’s naval and military history. Transcript Britain and World War I Timing and description Text 0:01 “In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, Video footage of a field of That mark our place; and in the sky poppies and the Flanders The larks, still bravely singing, fly Fields Memorial Garden Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago Video footage of soldiers We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, in WWI Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.” 00:58 Flanders fields, a poem by John McCrae, describes a real place: the region of the Western fronts in the First World War, where more than half a million British Map of the Flanders region soldiers and a hundred thousand more from the British Empire died between where many soldiers fell 1914 and 1918—the majority of Britain’s casualties in the conflict. They are commemorated in Britain today by the poppy, a flower that grows wild in Flanders. Image of a memorial decorated with poppies Hello, I’m Nick Dennis, and I’m here in London, where I was born and raised, to explore the British experience in the First World War.
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  • In Flanders Fields by John Mccrae 1915
    Name: Class: In Flanders Fields By John McCrae 1915 Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) was a Canadian military doctor and artillery commander during World War I. He wrote "In Flanders Fields" after participating in the Second Battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium. The battle in Flanders is remembered for the many trenches, or protective pits, dug for combat throughout the region’s poppy fields. As you read, take notes on how the imagery affects the tone and themes of the poem. [1] In Flanders fields the poppies1 blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks,2 still bravely singing, fly, [5] Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead; short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. [10] Take up our quarrel3 with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow "Diksmuide Death trenches IJzer" by VISITFLANDERS is licensed [15] In Flanders fields. under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. “In Flanders Fields” from In Flanders Fields and Other Poems by John McCrae (1918) is in the public domain. 1. Poppies are flowers commonly associated with sleep. Because of the trench warfare in Flanders during World War I, poppies are to this day considered a symbol of remembrance for soldiers who died in wars. 2. a type of songbird 3.
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  • In Flanders Fields” — Canada’S Official Poem: Breaking Faith Nancy Holmes
    Document generated on 10/02/2021 10:52 a.m. Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne “In Flanders Fields” — Canada’s Official Poem: Breaking Faith Nancy Holmes Volume 30, Number 1, Spring 2005 Article abstract John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" now appears on the ten-dollar bill, its place URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/scl30_1art01 firmly established within Canadian iconography. Yet the poem has been dismissed by both critics and poets as blithely Romantic and/or jingoistic, yet a See table of contents close reading of the text reveals a deeper, conflicted significance. In the first two stanzas, McCrae uses conventional pastoral imagery to disrupt the familiar association between Christian ideals of redemption and renewal with nature, Publisher(s) hauntingly capturing the uncertainty and fear that pervaded the collective consciousness of soldiers and civilians alike, both during and after World War The University of New Brunswick I. However, in the last stanza, McCrae abandons his skillful representation of the war torn, spiritually diseased soul by applying an ideological gloss that ISSN reads like a recruiting poster. The critical silence surrounding the complexities of this poem have led to its reappropriation by the Canadian government as a 0380-6995 (print) symbol of the military and heroism rather than a rite of genuine war 1718-7850 (digital) remembrance. Explore this journal Cite this article Holmes, N. (2005). “In Flanders Fields” — Canada’s Official Poem:: Breaking Faith. Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne, 30(1), 11–33. All rights reserved © Management Futures, 2005 This document is protected by copyright law.
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  • Poppies Every Year Just for the Band
    When I was in high school, we always invited all of the local veterans to a breakfast, and then an assembly to honor and thank them. The flags were always presented in military style, there was a speaker, and the band played a medley of the armed forces songs. As the different branches songs were playing, the branch would be announced and the veterans from that branch were invited to stand and be recognized. I was always surprised by how, in a small town of around four thousand five hundred people, how many veterans would be present. As part of the band, I was always given a red paper poppy to wear on my band uniform. If I remember right, they were handmade by the local legion. They made a hundred poppies every year just for the band. This is because red poppies are the symbol for sacrifice, and are worn in memory of the fallen. So how did a flower that isn’t even native to the United States become a symbol for the armed forces? The story goes that the war torn fields in Europe that had also been used as a burial ground for fallen soldiers was covered in red poppies the following spring. A Canadian physician by the name of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was inspired by these flowers and wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields”. If you aren’t familiar with the poem, McCrae uses the voice of fallen soldiers to tell their story. In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below There are two more stanzas to the poem that I won’t list here.
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  • 'Remember...Yonder ...Give Thanks
    'Remember .... yonder .... give thanks ....~,., In Flanders field ·the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. "'...By.. Ma.ior John McCrae, May 1915."' ..... 33.enfrebJ ·QI:oUinlJUlOob~enior9" ~odetp . '(fJ/Tf.'lil!J §fll 1'0r5to Jllell rt' 2970 East nod Avenue, Vancouver, B.c., V5M 2Y4 PhonelFacsimile: (604) 430-1441 Website: \vww.rcIlcollscniors.ca Email: [email protected] The red Flanders' poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918), who was Profe-ssor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical Officer with the first Canadian Contingent. At the second battle of Ypres in 1915, when in charge of a small first-aid post, he wrote in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book:' b G £ c-o\J Gn...- 0 p N GWLG"I'f~12 ~ " The verses were apparently sent anonymously to the English magazine, Punch, which published them under the title, In Flanders' Fields.
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  • In Flanders Fields, 100Th Anniversary • FIFA Women's World Cup Canada
    MAY 2015 | No.5 Details Your source for new Canadian stamps Inside • In Flanders Fields, 100th Anniversary • FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015TM FIFATM FANS, YOU’LL GET A REAL KICK OUT OF THIS This laminated plaque of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ comes ready to hang and features an enlargement of the stamp artwork, plus a mint commemorative stamp and certificate of authenticity. Make it your goal to get one. Limited edition Only 1,000 available $1495 342056 279.4 mm x 355.6 mm / 11 in. x 14 in. © The official Emblem of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015TM/MC and the FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy are copyrights See pages 10-11 for more FIFA coin and trademarks of FIFA. All rights reserved. products from the Royal Canadian Mint From Canada or the U.S. From other countries canadapost.ca/FWWC2015 1-800-565-4362 902-863-6550 CONTENTS MAY 2015 | No.5 6 In Flanders Fields We celebrate the 100th anniversary of John McCrae’s most famous poem. 8 FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ This stamp kicks off the international competition that will have all eyes on Canada. 10 Royal Canadian Mint Coins Collectible coins of all kinds for all occasions. 13 Still Available Get them while you still can. 244518 DETAILS Write to Details is published by Canada Post. STAMP SERVICES – DETAILS Director, Stamp Services: Jim Phillips CANADA POST Director, Marketing: Nancy Wright 2701 RIVERSIDE DR SUITE N1070 Coordinator: Monica Desjardins OTTAWA ON K1A 0B1 CANADA Staff contributors: Joy Parks, Will Manzer Printed in Canada.
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