Words from Lt.-Col. John McCrae’s World War I poem In Flanders Fields appear in the Canadiens dressing room (the excerpt appears italicized below). Understand what the words truly mean today, Remembrance Day:
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.
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I noticed this year, there was a definite drop in the number of people in downtown Montreal and the greater region not wearing poppies. Not that it’s a big deal, i just thought it was kind of sad.
Yep, Vimy is a powerful place too. The battlefield has been preserved below the memorial. All of the trenchlines and shell holes are still there. Brings things a little more into perspective.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Put your hand on the record player and say, ‘I’m gonna get my freedom!’” — King’s X
I salute our veterans as always.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu. Habs and Hockey.
Utmost gratitude to the men and women who have and those who continue to serve our country.
It is because of these sacrifices that we are able to live in freedom.
Thank you
Hug a Vet
A few years back, my youngest son was at the Vimmy Memorial re-dedication. He’s a bit of a history buff, going to be a history teacher.
He came back from the trip very humbled, was a bit overwhelmed in fact. It was quite the trip. He even got to go to Normandy and walk on the beach.
Oh how I envy him……
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
This was my father’s favourite poem, he flew Lancasters during WWII as a 19 year old. I recently came across a photo of his graduating class from Flight Academy and every face in the photo was circled in either red or green… except for my father. Red signified confirmed dead and green signified missing in action. Talk about beating the odds! Unfortunately his time ran out last month so today is the first time I can’t personally thank him for the sacrifices made by him and his brothers in arms. Thanks to all who have answered the call of duty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vSCqIwQ0PU
I hear the mountain birds
The sound of rivers singing
A song I’ve often heard
It flows through me now
So clear and so loud
I stand where I am
And forever I’m dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I’m dreaming of home
I stand on the highway of hero’s with my flag each time one of our own is brought home.
But lets not forget the war injured and maimed that still live silently among us.
We have a few soldiers that are injured for life that gave their all for us right on this site.
One of which, was at our HIO Summit this year from Manitoba, a 35 year old Sargent that had been blown up and concussed in war many times. He wares a pacemaker that keeps him alive and has such head trauma, that only he knows the pain. Yes there are many walking war hero’s also that gave for us boys and girls.
Thank you Sargent Shane Oliver from Shiloh Manitoba, known to us on here as Sholi2000.com “they call me Shane”
He is my HERO.
Thanks Grandpa for your 6 years of sacrifice in WW II, RIP 1999…..
Thank you. You will always be remembered.
Tonight we skate with them, Tonight is our night!
Full support to those that have fought for our freedom. May god bless their souls. It is a shame though that alot of canadians dont give a crap.
Attended the ceremony in Pointe-Claire today and spent time reading the small headstones. So many who served and lived a full life after. So many who never made it home. Must have been some dust in the wind out there today. Got some in my eyes.
Thanks.
thnx to all the vets who had sacrificed their lives for us and those still serving. may you be repaid aplenty.
God bless those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom!
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“Young people have seen that a team can play electrifying, fascinating hockey while still behaving like gentlemen.”
~Serge Savard~
Two summers ago I stood on the spot where John McCrae scribbled those lines outside Ypres, Belgium. A moving experience and a moving place. I recommend a visit to those WW1 battlefields in France and Flanders to any Canadian who gets the chance.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Put your hand on the record player and say, ‘I’m gonna get my freedom!’” — King’s X
Thank you to all the servicemen/women past, present, and future.
Goalies in Montreal have two roles, netminder and scapegoat.
I wear the poppy every year, i never want to forget the people who scarificed their lives for us, and now it has even more meaning to me since a close friend of mine,a huge habs fan, is getting ready for his second tour of duty in afghanistan. It takes more then alot of courage to up and go fight in a war, and i don’t think i could thank these people enough
-”People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” Chuck Palahniuk
Thank-you to all the WW2 vets still alive(and sadly departed) and all our other brave soldiers fighting in Afganistan. We shall never forget them.
That’s a good one. His poem called Futility is also very good.
Country Joe Mc Donald once put a bunch of Robert Service’s WWI poems to music. This is one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_QpLJaKDCI
The Canadiens have their favourite World War I poem and I have mine, by Wilfred Owen:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, —
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Thank you to all who are serving and have served. Your sacrifices are the backbone that supports our societal body. To all those who have lost their lives in battle, may you rest in peace. All those who are currently serving, may your battles end with victory and without bloodshed. Thank you again, veterans, for you are why we are able to watch and talk about the great game of hockey with our family and friends.
Where do we find such brave men time after time when called? God bless them all.
Want to say a big Thank-you to all of the men and women who have served and are still serving this great country today. If it was not for them I would hate to see where we would be to today. The lives that were courageously given up so we could have our freedoms today goes way beyond anything that we can say or do. The Veterans that we see today on parade routes and at ceremonies you are all to be commended for all you did. Again I will say Thank-you, you truly are the best.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Thinking of you all, wearing the poppy proudly.
“I know you’re wise beyond your years, but do you ever get the fear that your perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?”
thank you our brave soldiers who gave everything for us. God bless you and keep you in our memories.