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

The First World War

"Spurred on by the realization of their hazard, the men worked with speed and precision. Not a shot was fired, nor a shell exploded. All was still until the last stake was screwed in and the last strand of wire tied; then it happened ~ a salvo of bursting rockets a myriad of coloured flares, a tornado of gas shells, lead and iron. One hundred yards to the trenches. Time, ten seconds flat at least so Jones has often told. Be that as it may, not a man was scratched in the spirited dash to cover, which shattered all records for personal achievement. The Brigade Wirers had no rifles and only a handful of bombs, so when ordered to get the hell out of the way by an officer of the front line company, the command was smartly obeyed. The retirement was orderly until Private Saunders essayed to pray beneath the shelter of a bit of corrugated iron stretched across the top of the communication trench through which the party was moving. Those in the rear thought this quite the wrong time and place for devotions, as they were still under heavy fire, and Saunders in his kneeling position cut off their line of retreat. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that he was kicked into a position of even more humility."

Excerpt from The Canadian Military Gazette, Vol. LVI, No. 3, March 1941. Major A. R. Thompson penned the name "Jones" to relate his personal experiences in a series that ran in the Gazette.

Photos: Cayuga Courtyard, lbwalker (For larger image, click on photo.)

Letter from France Aug. 8, 1917

"P.S. What you say about the wounded officers at Eastbourne makes me very envious. If I get a blighty, will you come & look after me? B."

(For larger image, double-click on photo.)

Letter from a soldier in France, dated Aug. 8th, 1917:
[Second half of letter. See previous post for first half.]

Your last letter was written from Eastbourne. Are you still down there? It must be lovely down there now. That is providing you are not having the same wretched weather that we have had lately over here. It was all right for a few days ~ some weeks ago ~ but lately it has been raining almost every day ~ and it surely can rain here when it so desires! Lord ~ I have never seen anything like the torrent that came down two or three days ago. We were all drenched to the skin and I had a hot bath in my tent out of the water that I collected in my boots (very nearly anyway!)

It makes me frightfully homesick to think of you in bathing down there ~ A good swim would be such a treat. By the way, if I am still above ground at the end of another month, why I may get leave. It will come about then I think but one cannot count on [underlined] anything over here ~ it will probably all be stopped just before I am to leave. But things seem to be improving and I am hoping to be across about then.

By the way, you haven't told me what you are doing? Are you still down at Eastbourne or are you in any of the shows? Please let me know ~ And I say, Lily dear, let me know where you expect to be from now on, won't you? You see if I happened to get leave suddenly I should want to know where you were. (Please don't go to Ireland or the north of Scotland or any other ungetatable [sic] (How's that?) place!

I have lost track of the shows that are on now ~ it is such ages since I was across last. Is there anything good going? Won't you please write me a nice long letter and tell me all the news? By the way how's that nephew of yours getting along? I expect he's growing into a bonnie laddie by now.
Is May still with you? You were in the same show before. I hope so. It is so much nicer for you to be together isn't it? Give her my best regards and tell her I hope to see her some day soon. And I hope your Mother and sister are well too ~ Remember me to them all ~ Guess they have forgotten me by now.
Well Lily dear, won't you please be very, very nice to me and write soon? We are out at billets just now but expect to be "off to the war" again soon. There are quite big doings over here these days ~ Old Fritzie is getting part of that which is due to him ~ and he's going to get plenty more.

It's high time that I was turning in. It's raining again now ~ but this morning was fine and I managed to get off for a top-hole ride! Wish you could have come along. It's lovely to get away from camp now and then and go off across the country. Well, I must close this up. Night night dear old Lily. Take good care of yourself and don't forget all about this chap over here.
With ever so much love,
Bassell
Actual letter saved between the pages of one of Lydia (Mrs. Drew) Thompson's books.

France, Aug. 8th, 1917
Dear Old Lily,

I'm afraid I have only myself to blame for the fact that I haven't had a letter from you for ages and ages ~ perhaps you have even forgotten me ~ have you? You won't be cruel enough to say so even if you had ~ I know.
But we have been pretty much on the go over here lately and somehow it seems much harder to write these days. Mother is always "strafing" me because I don't write home often enough.

We are in a much more unsettled sort of state than we were last year. Then we were in one part of the line and had regular towns in and out. Now we are on the move nearly all the time. By the way ~ perhaps you didn't know it but there really is [underlined] a war on over here!

But I say, Lily dear ~ I think that you might have been kind enough to write to me again. You know that I do love to get your letters ~ and your time isn't wasted that you spend on them ~ Besides, you know ~ if you help to keep the "troops" cheerful, you are helping to win the "wa-ar." But I shouldn't strafe you, should I? You have always been so good to me and I'll be lucky if you haven't quite forgotten me! Is it too much to hope that you are keeping a wee corner of your heart[illegible] for me? It would be something very precious and I should indeed be luckly....With ever so much love, Bassell.

Actual letter saved between the pages in one of Lydia (Mrs. Drew) Thompson's books.

"Somewhere in France, April 27/17," the letter begins:

Dear Lily, Just a few lines to let you know that I am still "alive and kicking" and to ask why I have been so neglected lately? There hasn't been a letter from you for ages and ages! Guess you must have forgotten me entirely this time. I would have written to you before but things have been too busy for much letter-writing these days over here. And it was up to each one of us to put our whole energy into the affair. Now that the first part's over, we are having a bit of a rest.
I wonder if you are having lovely sunny spring days in England. Over here we have had a lot of wet and cold weather but lately it has turned warmer and we are all feeling so much better. During the first of "the push" it was most miserable in some ways. In fact, the "weather man" did his best to drown us out and then to freeze us. We had quite a brisk snow storm and as we were living in shell holes etc., with plenty of mud and water, things weren't the most comfortable. But the men are fine ~ always cheerful and happy. I'm afraid that the above looks as though I was grumbling ~ [underlined] I'm not doing so at all. We had the time of our lives. But we do grumble when our friends forget to write to us! Now that was very cruel of you Lily dear! Just at the time when things are fairly rough for us! I wonder what you have been doing lately. Are you back in town again? It is so long that I don't believe I even know whether you are still in My Lady Frayle [A musical play]. I think you were the last time you wrote. I hope that your foot has been better and that you have been having a good time lately. Give my regards to May and to the rest of the family ~ and look here, Lily dear ~ you just get busy now and write a nice long letter to me! Wish there was some chance of leave again ~ but it seems further off than ever just now. Well, I must stop. Cheer-Oh, Lily dear,
With lots of love Bassell.
P.S. Don't forget that letter. [underlined] Please write.

Actual letter saved between the pages of one of Lydia (Mrs. Drew) Thompson's books. Tomorrow: A letter from Bassell, dated Aug. 8th, 1917.

On Thursday, November 11, we will lay wreaths at the base of the cenotaph and observe a moment of silence ~ surrounded by veterans. Remembering the hundreds of thousands who served in the First and Second World Wars, Korea, on UN missions, NATO and in Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lest we forget, let us wear our red poppies. Honour these brave individuals and recognize that Canadian soldiers and civilians continue to serve around the world today.