Sunday, November 11, 2018

If Ye Break Faith With Us

Today is Remembrance Day, a particularly significant one as it was a century ago today that the guns fell silent across the battlefields of Europe and the Great War came to an end. I will be taking in the national service at the War Memorial and visiting the Canadian War Museum as well today. Have a look at my writer's blog for yesterday's post, as it also features this location with shots from 2016.

Green Island lies east of the downtown core, where the Rideau River splits into two and joins the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls. On the north side of Sussex Drive, the land is parkland, and there are a number of monuments placed in this parkland, most of them military in nature. I came up this way on  Thanksgiving in October while taking fall photos, and decided to focus on two of the monuments for Remembrance Day. The first is the National Artillery Memorial, which originally stood in Major's Hill Park but which has been here for years. A field gun stands beside the wall, which includes inscriptions in English and French- the French text of the main inscription is on a plaque over on the left side. 


Beside it is another monument, more recent, placed here in 2015. It pays tribute to the Canadian soldier, doctor, and poet John McCrae, who wrote the poem In Flanders Fields after the death of a fellow soldier in World War One.


The monument depicts a larger than McCrae sitting, with poem in hand and poppies in red as part of the statue. It was created by artist Ruth Abernethy, who has a particular gift with sculpture- she's responsible for the Oscar Peterson sculpture at the National Arts Centre. This statue has a twin- another one by the artist is at the civic museum in Guelph, which was McCrae's home town growing up in southern Ontario. His family home there is preserved today as well.

32 comments:

  1. Here we have Veterans Day. It's a good reminder to appreciate our soldiers.

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  2. Once again, Ottawa has memorialized the sacrifices made by its sons and daughters in a tasteful and profound way.

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  3. Thanks for the interesting run down in Remembrance Day in your city.

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  4. We had Teresa May here, there is a lot going on today normally we have a day off on Nov 11 but today it's Sunday anyway.

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  5. ...in Canada you do such a wonderful job creating memorials and in the US our President cancels visiting a important WW I sight because his hair would get wet!

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    1. I read about that on the news.... I was appalled!

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  6. This is a nice fitting post again, William. The fallen leave on the monument for John McCrae is a beautiful detail.
    In the Netherlands, little attention has been paid so far to the commemorations of the First World War, because our country was neutral at the time.
    This morning we watched the commemorations in Ypres (Belgium) and Paris on TV.

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  7. I will be at our local Legion and War memorial today, standing in the cold, listening to the bugle and the poem and watching the dignitaries place their poppies. And I will place my poppy there too, to honour the fallen.

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  8. @Linda: it is.

    @Lowell: I agree.

    @Joan: you're welcome.

    @Gattina: there will be many dignitaries. Our PM is in Europe today.

    @Maywyn: you're welcome.

    @Francisco: thank you.

    @Tom: that and he can't abide being in the presence of people who actually served their country.

    @Shammickite: he should be ashamed, but lacks the capacity.

    @Jan: our country paid a fierce price.

    @Catarina: indeed.

    @Shammickite: I am a short walk away from the memorial at present.

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  9. A beautiful commemorative post William ✨

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  10. The McCrae statue is awesome with some great detail.

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  11. A perfect way to commemorate such a significant day.

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  12. So many people gave their lives to keep us free.

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  13. Great post for this important day and beautiful photos.

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  14. A moving tribute to all those who gave their lives.

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  15. I read about John McCrae this morning and learned he was only 45 when he died of pneumonia near the end of the war. :-(

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  16. Wonderful tribute to you military ~ lovely photos and history post ~

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  17. @Grace: thank you.

    @Red: it is indeed.

    @Sharon: I thought so!

    @RedPat: indeed.

    @Tamago: thank you.

    @Bill: it certainly is.

    @Bill: quite true.

    @DJan: and yet older than many fellow soldiers.

    @Carol: thank you.

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  18. What an interesting and fitting post for today. Thank you, William.

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  19. Lovely post, Thank you.

    cheers, parsnip and badger

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  20. i really enjoy the poppies ... lovely post. ( :

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  21. Both this and the later post are great tributes for the Day (and every day of course) and also point out some of the reasons why so many of us these days wish we lived North of our border.

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  22. This is such a beautiful commemorative post.
    Lest we forget.

    All the best Jan

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  23. Everything you have shared is a wonderful tribute to Remembrance Day. Thank you William!

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  24. I didn't know about this one! Did you hear any bells at 5 p.m. Sunday?

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  25. @Kay: Ruth Abernethy has such a skill at making her sculptures feel alive.

    @Jeanie: you're welcome.

    @Parsnip: you're welcome.

    @Beth: thank you.

    @Sallie: these days especially!

    @Jan: thank you.

    @Denise: you're welcome.

    @Jennifer: I would have missed the bells by minutes, I expect.

    @Klara: thanks!

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