Memory

 This painting is titled War: Canadian Soldiers In Afghanistan, by Douglas Laing, from the experiences of his son, who fought as part of what was called Operation Medusa.

Here we have a copy of a journal by a veteran of that war. Master Corporal Paul Franklin would lose both of his legs after an attack. He sketched his own condition into the page.

I've always liked this photograph of an interaction between an Afghan child and a Canadian soldier. The Canadian mission to the country is a decade in the past, and the country has fallen back into the hands of the very people we went to fight in the first place. A dark world for that child to have ended up in.

As the mission ended and military forces returned home, the dead and injured of that war loomed over them.

The formal galleries of the museum end with this display. 

The Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour is beyond, and concerns itself with how we've remembered the dead of our wars, from time immemorial to the present.

At the heart of the room is a model of the National War Memorial.

Also here is a stained glass window which once was in the Dutch consulate in Montreal. Now it finds its home here.

The Museum has two focal points in its architectural design. This is one of them. Regeneration Hall is the name of the space within the large spiked structure seen from the outside. The window directly looks towards Parliament Hill, a deliberate choice by the architect, Raymond Moriyama. Within are the plaster casts of the Vimy Memorial. A harpist was playing down below, and a recorded sound resonates through the space. It is the sound of wind, recorded when the place was under construction, and haunting in its way. Moriyama wanted the sound recorded and preserved in here, played in a loop.

Behind me and on the wall is this dramatic painting. Sacrifice was painted by Charles Sims around the end of World War One.

Remembrance Day

On the same day in October as my photos from the last three days, I stopped at the National War Memorial for autumn photos. This occupies the heart of Confederation Square, and is surrounded by landmarks like Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier, the Government Conference Center, the National Arts Centre, and the Chambers. Today, a national service is held for Remembrance Day, and I will be there. I am also marking the occasion today over at my writer's blog.

The Memorial, first dedicated to the fallen of the Great War, has since been rededicated to include those of the Second World War, Korean War, South African War, and Afghan War, as well as all those who have died in military service to the country. I moved along the perimeter, with fall colours in the trees to be found.

From April to today, during the day, members of the military services stand at post as guards, relieved each hour in a ceremony with great meaning and tradition. It is a tradition that has been going on for over a decade, and a good one to have.

Warriors

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here's more of the exhibit on Highland Warriors.

Guard Of Honour Of The 79th Highlanders at Holyrood House is the title of this painting by R.R. McIan, dating to 1852.

This is the dress uniform of Captain E.J.F. Kelso of the 72nd Highlanders; he served in the regiment from 1829-40.

Edward VIII was colonel-in-chief of the Seaforth Highlanders starting in 1920 when he was still Prince of Wales, until his abdication in 1936. This was his dress uniform.

Highlanders in the Canadian military started as militia units, taking on the Scottish tradition in the New World. Out of that would spring the military units we see today with a rich Highland heritage, even if some of their members might not have so much as a drop of Scottish blood in them.

6th Battalion Cameron Highlanders At Loos is a 1919 painting by Joseph Gray, depicting the Canadians getting ready to launch an assault as part of the First World War battle in September 1915.

More uniforms. The portrait is Lance Corporal Fred Fisher, by George James Coates. The corporal was awarded the Victoria Cross, posthumously, for bravery at St. Julien in Belgium during the Second Battle of Ypres. As part of the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada, Fisher led a machine gun detachment forward to attack the enemy lines, and was killed on the 23rd of April, 1915. He had the distinction of being the first Canadian of the war to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

From one war to another. Stormont, Dundas, And Glengarry Highlanders Advancing Into Caen is the title of this painting by O.N. Fisher depicting Canadian Highlanders on the assault into the city as part of the Normandy campaign. The artist, Orville Fisher, was the only designated war artist who landed on the beach on D-Day. Enlisted as a private and elevated to officer's rank when his superiors saw his skill, he dropped the bulk of his art gear overboard (realizing it would drown him) on D-Day, and went ashore with a waterproof sketch pad and charcoal pencil, making a series of sketches of the chaos of battle around him. Those sketches would later go into dramatic paintings, some of which are in the Museum's collection.

And it is the beaches of Normandy that occupy this photograph. Corporal Rachelle MacDonald of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa played the pipes at the Canadian War Cemetery at Bretteville-sur-Laize during the 70th anniversary ceremonies marking D-Day in 2014.

I finish this exhibit with a portrait. Lt. Colonel Dwayne Kevin Hobbs is a portrait by Gertrude Kearns of the commanding officer of the Toronto Scottish, depicting him in dress uniform. Hobbs was in command of that unit from 2005-08, and over the course of his career has spent time in Bosnia, the Golan Heights, and in the Afghan War.