Remembrance Day

[isaidso]

Regardless of political views, Remembrance Day is one occasion when we pause to reflect and pay respect to the dead.

This year, we mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War 1 — "the war to end all wars..." The City of Toronto — along with Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Ottawa, Regina, and the Canadian Embassy in London England — is participating in 'Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil'. From sunset on November 4 to sunrise of Remembrance Day, the names of all 68,000 soldiers who died in World War 1 will be projected onto the East Tower of City Hall.

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.


John McCrae





Links to City of Toronto information: http://www.toronto.ca/lestweforget/index.htm
Images: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...pyfield460.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...Y08RW/340x.jpg

[Taller, Better]

Nicely put together, isaidso, and beautiful choice of photos! We have much to remember and be thankful for on November 11.

[isaidso]

Thank you for noticing. I went scouring for just the right ones. It's the very least I could do. I might also suggest that Torontonians go see Passchendaele at your local cinema. It's still playing at the Varsity Cinema, 55 Bloor Street West.

Fri - Sun: 12:50 4:00 7:10 10:05
Mon: 4:00 7:10 10:05
Tue: 12:50 4:00 7:10 10:05
Wed: 1:10 4:20 7:20 10:05

[algonquin]

I'd like to visit the Vimy memorial someday.

[CrazyCanuck]

From my trip to Krakow. I have more from Juno as well if anyone would like to see them.

[CrazyCanuck]

Here's another from Juno. I wish i could have made it to Vimy, next time for sure.

[Devil_Dice]

Where was that monument at Juno? I went to the Museum and they took us on a tour of the beach including the German bunker that is still in front fo the museum. I was trying to find any other indicators on the beach but came up with nothing.

On another note, I would recommend to any Canadian visiting Vimy. The tunnels are amazingly preserved to exactly how they were in 1917, and the monument itself (visible for miles in every direction) is truly awe inspiring.

Same goes for the Menin Gate memorial to all Commonwealth troops who are still MIA, in Ypres

[isaidso]

My first memories of Canadians were dead ones. A summer vacation to a villa on the Normandy coast when I turned 10 ended with a tour of allied cemeteries. We would be immigrating to Canada a year later, so that experience has always remained very vivid in my mind.

It's true that the crosses seem to go on forever toward the horizon. Massive cemeteries, one after another after another. It really made it all more real to me. Before, all I heard were stories at school in London, and playing in my friend's WW2 air raid shelter behind the house.

CrazyCanuck: please share some of your photos from Juno.

[Taller, Better]

Krakow is a great historical place.. I believe it was untouched during the war.

[Filip]

That's true.. However Warsaw, once a beautiful city, did not.

There's a heartbreaking thread in the Serbian photo section on Belgrade prior to WWII... It's awful, this one achingly beautiful, handsome city ended up being a mess of beautiful old buildings and communist concrete crap. We can only thank Hitler and his hate for the untermenschen.. Apparently Slavs weren't up to par to the great Germanic tribes...

[cruzin4u]

I too would love to see more photos.

I am going back to my homeland (Czech Rep.) in 09, so I figured while I'm in Europe, I'll visit some of the Word War I/II sites, such as Normandy, Vimy Ridge, the concentration camps and so forth.

My question is, while you guys were in France/Poland, did you take a tour of the sites through a company or was it merely just visiting those locations by whatever means you arranged (train/vehicle)?

I'm assuming it's pretty simple to just grab a map and head to the sites?

[CrazyCanuck]

As someone who has visited Juno and Auschwitz, among other WW II sites, I can say do it if you can. It's tough though when your feet are in the sand, and you're looking towards the Channel, to imagine thousands of soldiers storming the beach to save Europe.

I did it by myself, I visited Juno from Paris taking a train to Caen and then a bus to the beach area. If I could visit the area again I would. It's huge, bigger than i thought, Juno alone is 8 km! I would love to visit the American and British sectors as well. Gold would be awesome, because it has that huge cliff. I only spent a few hours, but it wasn't enough. Seeing all of those Canadian flags though sent shivers through my spine of pure patriotism though. You hardly see any abroad, but when you are seeing dozens along the beach in a foreign country it sure makes you proud.

In visiting Auschwitz, I took a bus from Krakow which took 1.5 hours to get to and then I took a guided english tour, I was the only Canadian. I would recommend the tour. It takes 3 1/2 hours and you get to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is the really big one. This is not for the faint of heart, but it's a must.

[CrazyCanuck]

Here you go.

[Taller, Better]

That was the trip of a lifetime, Crazy... you must have a massive amount of good memories from it!

[CrazyCanuck]

I sure do Taller, it's crazy when I have to list off all of the countries i've visited now. I'm gunning for 50 buy the time I die. That's a tough feat when some are super huge, i.e. Brazil, India, China, and Australia and 66 are in Africa.

Here's a few more, Tombs of the Unknown Soldier in Paris, Rome, Athens, and Berlin. The one in London is in Westminster Abbey, of which I have pics of the exterior but have not uploaded yet.

[isaidso]

Thanks for posting. The Normandy bunkers brought a lot of child hood memories flooding back.

[Filip]

I wouldn't be able to visit Auschwitz knowing I had relatives slaughtered there.

Never forgive, never forget.

[neggbird]

I saw a really powerful Rememberance Day commercial on TV today, it was a POV shot of a WWI soldier running out of a trench and dodging artillery fire. Really well done.

[Gil]

Originally Posted by neggbird

I saw a really powerful Rememberance Day commercial on TV today, it was a POV shot of a WWI soldier running out of a trench and dodging artillery fire. Really well done.

That's done by the Royal Canadian Mint. I agree, it's well done as well. The one done by the Federal government with shots of soldiers from (assuming) WWI onward to Afghanistan is also pretty good until the words start scrolling on the screen. In English it OK, (On the eleventh month, on the eleventh day, at the eleventh hour . . .) but in French they screw up the spelling by forgetting that in front of a vowel (in this case it'd be Onzième) you use an l'. I mean a message as important as Rememberance Day should at least be grammatically correct!

[cruzin4u]

Thanks for sharing those photos and information CrazyCanuck.

Were you pressed for time, since you said you only spent a few hours there? My fear is taking a guided tour and being rushed, which is something that I don't want.

You said you were the only Canadian at Auschwitz. Just out of curiousity, where were some of the others from?

Those bunker/turret photos are incredible - how intact they are after all those years. Very powerful stuff!

There is some great footage on youtube of WWI/II. The Stalingrad footage is especially powerful, seeing the Soldiers frost bitten and starved.

Also, History TV is running a week of Remembrance documentaries all this week, which should be interesting.