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| GARDEN OF POPPIES |
| IN FLANDERS FIELDS By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Corps 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. |
| IN MEMORY OF Pvt. HAROLD JAMES ANDERSON Killed 08 Aug 1918 Amiens, France Lest We Forget |
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| 8th August, 1918, by Septimus Power |
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| Canadians digging in and waiting for the next wave to pass through them and go forward during the Battle of Amiens, France
August 1918 (Source: Canada. Dept. of National Defence / National Archives of Canada / PA-002926) |
| Pvt. Harold James Anderson, Gunner, 4th Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps, was born 18 Feb 1898, Guelph, Ontario, Canada to William Anderson and Ada Allison of Moffatt, Ontario. At age 16, he first joined the 71st Battalion, Canadian Corps, but was honourably discharged after 2 months, when presumably his true age came to light. At over 5 foot, 8 inches, he easily passed for being of legal age. On 12 Apr 1916, he once again joined and this time was accepted into the 204th Battalion, Canadian Exposition Forces. By August of 1918, he was in the 4th Battalion, an "Emma Gee", the nickname for Canadian machine gunners.
On the night of 07 Aug 1918, Harold would have checked his Vickers machine gun in preparation for the barriage to come. The silence of the night was broken only by men whispering to their horses, muttering an oath when a stray rifle bullet passed by or a long range shell flying high over. Battle weary soldiers' nerves were stretched thin. Perhaps Harold thought of his family back on the farm at Moffatt or of his late older brother Will who had been killed in a tragic Ontario train accident a few days before he re-inlisted. The Battle of Amiens began at 4:20 a.m., 08 Aug 1918, with heavy deafening artillery fire, enveloping everyone and everything in sound and flame, shaking the ground. Thick mist covered the fields where the Canadian Corps, flanked by Australian and French, faced the German forces, with the remaining Allied Forces grouped behind. The 4th Battalion led the 450 tanks. In the front, the first wave of five infantry guided the tanks, moving in two lines 30 yards apart, but the fog and smoke was so dense, that the men could only hear, not see the explosions. The second, third and fourth wave moved in a single file, in small groups, 30 to 60 yards apart. The fifth wave brought the machine guns, trench mortors and signal parties. At first they would follow yellow tapes silently laid out the night before to within 300 yards of the German front line. Behind them came the larger battalion groups, in a diamond formation, mopping up stragglers, ending enemy opposition and taking prisoners. Hit by Allied artillery, Harold's tank was blown up by "Friendly Fire", killing him instantly. Because of the fog, his tank may have strayed. Many Allied tanks were destroyed by the enemy and 1/4 of the 21,243 Allied casualties died, but in 3 hours the German line was completely overrun. It was the turning point of the War. Harold's parents received the sad telegram informing them of his death. How devasted they must have been as they had now lost their only sons. Harold is buried in Le Quesnel cemetery, Somme, France, with 59 other Allied soldiers. (Note: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD, author of Flanders Fields, was raised in Guelph, Ontario. He would often visit his relatives there. My mother met him while she was visiting her's. In later years, she told me he was the most handsome man she ever saw....Lucy) |
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| (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission) |
| Some returned from the fields of gory,
To their loved ones who held them dear. But some fell in that hour of glory, And were left to their resting there. March no more, my soldier laddie, There is peace where there once was war. Sleep in peace my soldier laddie, Sleep in peace, now the battle's o'er. Scottish Melody |
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| Books of Remembrance First World War - Page 359
Note: There are seven Books of Remembrance kept in the Memorial Chamber located on the second level of the Peace Tower, Parliament Buildings, on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Names of 116,031 Canadians who fought in wars outside of Canada and who died either during them or after are in these books. The chamber, designed as the repository for the books, was opened by Edward, The Prince of Wales on August 3, 1927. More than 500,000 visitors annually visit. For many, it is a solemn pilgramage to witness the name of a loved one in one of the six books. For others, visits have a historical significance as on the walls of the chamber are pages that tell the story of Canada's effort in the First World War. The Books of Remembrance, one each for the First World War, Second World War, Merchant Navy, Korean War, Boer War and Nile expedition, and the Province of Newfoundland, rest on six alters. The main one in the centre, is made of stone quarried from Flanders. The others are wooden. Each day at eleven a.m. guards at the Parliament Building turn the books' pages according to perpetual calendars for each book. The calendars allow visitors from outside Ottawa to plan a trip to the Memorial Chamber to see a specific page. Canada has more ornate rooms than the Memorial Chamber and larger books than the Books of Remembrance, but nothing from St. John's to Victoria symbolizes more than this samll room of Parliament Hill. (The Royal Canadian Legion Teacher's Guide) |
| SOLDIER'S PRAYER
BEFORE BATTLE
Stay with me God, the night is dark, The night is cold, my little spark Of courage dies. The night is long; Be with me, God, and make me strong. I love a game, I love a fight. I hate the dark, I love the light. I love my child, I love my wife. I am no coward. I love Life. I know that death is but a door. I know what we are fighting for Peace for the kids, our brothers freed, A kinder world, A cleaner breed. I'm but the son my Mother bore, A simple man and nothing more. But - God of strength and gentleness, Be pleased To make me nothing less. Help me, O God, when death is near To mock the haggard face of fear, That when I fall - if fall I must My soul may triumph In the dust. -Author Unknown- This part of a poem was written on a scrap of paper and was picked up fluttering over the desert sands during the battle of El Agheilla on 14 Dec 1942 |
| They went with songs to the battle, they were young, Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted; They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. (FOR THE FALLEN - Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) |
| Remember
These Brave Souls November 11 11:00 a.m. TWO MINUTES OF SILENCE IS THE LEAST WE CAN DO TO HONOUR THEIR SACRIFICE |
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| IN MEMORY OF Lieutenant Colonel WILLIAM R.I. SLACK, CD., Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps., killed 04 Feb 1956, Korea, buried in the United Nations Cemetery, Pusan South Korea |