Remembrance Day Thoughts

With Remembrance Day being last Saturday, I wanted to take some time to reflect on it, particularly some of my memories and pictures from being in Belgium this summer.

Here's the excerpt of what I wrote about visiting the war memorials and cemeteries in Belgium:

friday was a very meaningful day. we drove all around the belgian countryside, and took in many canadian war memorials and cemeteries. you can tell that they are very honoured here - everything is kept up perfectly and there is no vandalism at all. the first cemetery was sanctuary wood at hill 62. there was also a museum down the road (which is lined with maple trees as it was built by canadians), complete with real trenches that were used during the war. the highlight of this museum was listening to a grade 9 schoolteacher give a lesson to his 120 students that he had with him. it made it all come alive to us in a new way. we don't learn that kind of history very much back in canada - and i really wish we did, especially after being here. we were able to talk to him afterwards as well, and he told us even more stories. another one of the highlights of the day was tyne cot cemetery, which is the largest british commonwealth cemetery in the world. there were nearly 12,000 soldiers buried here, with another 36,000 names inscribed on a wall. it was huge, and kind of unreal to take in. the day ended off for us in ypres, where every night at 8 since 1927 'the last post' has been played and wreaths have been laid, in honour of those who gave their lives in the war. it was a very moving experience. a day like this drives back home why we have remembrance day, and the importance of it.


As Canadians, we are so far removed from all of the world war history. But being there, where the people lived through it was an unreal experience. Hearing stories, seeing pictures, and taking it all in myself - I think I learned more there than I did in all of my high school history classes. It's important stuff - but it gets forgotten too easily here. It's not real to us. But there, it is real - people know the price that was paid for freedom.

So many of the graves are unmarked, in terms of names, but they all contain the inscription "Known unto God."

Second line trenches at Sanctuary Wood, Hill 62.

"The Brooding Soldier"

Plaque on the Brooding Soldier memorial.

Tyne Cot Cemetery

The largest British Commonwealth cemetery in the world.