Remembrance Day at the John McCrae House (birthplace, museum, and Memorial) in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A detail shot of the "Altar" of the Memorial, with the complete poem
"In Flanders Fields"and the line "LEST WE FORGET" inscribed on it.
Portrait photo of John Alexander McCrae (1872–1918).
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was a soldier, physician and poet.
Date: 1918 or earlier.
Image from In Flanders Fields, and other poems, by Lieut.-Col. John McCrae, M.D., with an essay in character, by Sir Andrew Macphail (New York, London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919): http://www.archive.org/details/inflandersfields00mccr.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
An autographed copy of the poem "In Flanders Fields". Unlike the printed copy in the same book, McCrae's handwritten version ends the first line with "grow".
Facsimile of handwritten version of McCrae's "In Flanders Fields", in a volume of his poetry where an acknowledgement is given "The reproduction of the autograph poem is from a copy belonging to Carleton Noyes, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass., who kindly permitted its use."
Date: 1919.
Source: Scan of McCrae's "In Flanders Fields And Other Poems",
obtained from archive.org, converted to PNG and Black and White, slight rotation.
Author: John McCrae.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Illustrated page by Ernest Clegg.
Note that the first line ends with "grow".
Page 1 of the main content from a limited edition book
containing an illustrated poem, "In Flanders Fields".
The first chapter of "In Flanders Fields and Other Poems", a 1919 collection of McCrae's works, gives the text of the poem as follows:
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.
Bleuet de France.
Circa 1950.
Source: Own work.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Remembrance Day (11 November) is a national holiday in France and Belgium. It commemorates the Armistice, signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at 11:00 a.m. in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
Armistice Day is one the most important military celebrations in France, since it was a major French victory and the French paid a heavy price in blood to achieve it. The First World War was considered in France as the "Great Patriotic War". Almost all French villages feature Memorials dedicated to the Fallen. In France, the blue Cornflower (Bleuet de France) is used symbolically, rather than the Poppy.
"Ghosts of Vimy Ridge" depicts ghosts of the Canadian Corps on Vimy Ridge, surrounding the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
Date: 1931.
Source: Canadian House of Commons Collection, (AN: O-4714) [1].
Delville Wood was sometimes known as Devil's Wood, and the fighting there during the Battle of the Somme was particularly ferocious. The majority of the wood was eventually taken by South African soldiers on 15 July 1916, and they held on grimly during numerous German counter-attacks for six days, until they were relieved. After the War, South Africa purchased the site in 1920, and it serves as a Memorial to those of that nation who fell, not just there, but elsewhere.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Confederation Square in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, immediately following the Remembrance Day ceremonies on 11 November, 2006.
Since its installation, it has become traditional to place Poppies
on the Tomb, after the formal ceremony has concluded.
Armistice Day (also referred to as Remembrance Day) marks the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War One and commemorates the sacrifice of those who died serving New Zealand in this War, and all Wars and armed conflict.
The Great War of 1914 to 1918 was one of the most devastating events in human history. New Zealand, with a population of 1.1 million in 1914, sent 100,000 men and women abroad. 16,700 died and over 40,000 were wounded – a higher per capita casualty rate than any other country involved.
The coming of Peace, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, brought Blessed Relief for all involved.
They shall grow not 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. We will remember them.
(Fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's Poem 'For the Fallen')
Among the rich and splendid Roman Basilicas where the Ceremonies of Christian worship were celebrated in great pomp, after the Era of Persecution, there is one of First Rank whose Dedication is Solemnised on this Anniversary.
The Palace of the Lateran, on the Coelian Hill, belonged to Fausta, the wife of Emperor Constantine. The Emperor, after his conversion, gave it to the Pope as his private residence, and founded there the Church of the Lateran, which became the mother and mistress of all the Churches of Rome and of the world.
On 9 November 324 A.D., Pope Saint Sylvester Consecrated it under the name of the Basilica of Saint Saviour. This was the first public Consecration of a Church. A long time after, under Pope Lucius II, in the 12th-Century, it was Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, whose name had been given to the adjoining Baptistry, Wherefore, it has been given nowadays the Title of Saint John Lateran.
In this Basilica and the adjoining Palace were held, from the 4th- to the 16th-Centuries, more than twenty-five Councils, five of which were Ecumenical. On the most Solemn days, the Station was held there. Holy Orders were Conferred there, Penitents were reconciled, Catechumens were Baptised on Easter Day, and, as Neophytes, they came there in procession during the whole Easter Octave.
At Saint John Lateran is inaugurated, on the First Sunday in Lent, the great Liturgical Season Consecrated to Penance; there is held the Assembly on Palm Sunday and that on Rogation Tuesday; there are carried out the Ceremonies of Maundy Thursday and Easter Eve; and Mass is Celebrated on Saturday in Albis and on the Eve of Pentecost.
The Church, which had been destroyed, was rebuilt and Consecrated anew by Pope Benedict XIII, in 1726, and the Commemoration of this Consecration was fixed, as that of the first Church, on 9 November.
Mass: Terribilis.
In Low Masses, Commemoration is made of Saint Theodore.