Armistice Day
Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. We remember with reverence and thanks for the ultimate sacrifices our citizen soldiers who answer the call in defence of our Nation or that of another, an ally, when asked.
For reasons, I don't understand, I get quite weepy on such remembrances and yet feel compelled to each year try to understand more of the meaning of this day.
I shall always prefer calling it Armistice Day for it is the day of the Armistice to end the first World War at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. The was the Great War, the "war to end all wars", perhaps the most miserable war for the average soldier to fight., often dying in trenches and being sucked down to their grave in the mud of the battle field. Such was the case of the Battle for the Passchendaele Ridge where 15,000 Canadian soldiers died , in a few days, on the muddy fields . By remembering in this way, we are reminded at how mankind has failed at ending war and establishing an enduring peace, herein lies the tragedy for which I weep each year.
A grave of an Unknown Soldier at Flanders France
This year I have been remembering , in particular, two special military institutions of the Second World War, which required extraordinary effort and guile. Both involved both Canadians and Americans. Both, in their way, have change the way wars are fought. Both have not been remembered by most for their extraordinary contribution.
They are popularly known as Camp X and The Devil Brigade.
The Badge of STS 103 Camp X (Special Training School)
Camp X was the training camp of unorthodox warfare. It was a place where spies, intelligence officers and others were prepared to be dropped behind the enemy lines to do their mischief and help the resistence where they found it.
I grew up in the Toronto area and know nothing of the existence of Camp X just east of Toronto between Whitby and Oshawa on the shore of Lake Ontario. Here a joint effort by Britain , Canada and the US trained individuals to do extrodinary things for silently killing to explosives and decifering codes.
Early on a friend of both Churchill and Roosevelt, William Stephenson, (The man called Intepid),a Canadian, was chosen to head of the Intelligence efforts for the war, of which the establishment of Camp X was part.
At Camp X the seed idea of the Intelligence Agency was first sown to later become in the US, The Central Intelligence Agency and in Britain, MI 6.
One of the trivial facts is the Ian Fleming spent time here. He later went on to write the James Bond stories.
I first had my curiosity about Camp X tweaked when I was was reading about Igor Gouzenko, the Russian Embassy clerk who defected in Canada, with documentation of Russian spies in North America. In my youth he was a mysterous figure who occasionally appeared in public with a bag over his head to hide his identity. He actually lived in my home down under an alias.
When he first defected he was hidden at the site of Camp X while being debriefed by the Royal Camadian Mounted Police.
There is now a quite extensive website on Camp X, Camp X Official Site, in an effort to maintain a memory of this wartime institution. The sacrifices and contributions of it's graduates have been under recognized and appreciated. Appropriate for a secret spy training agency, I suppose.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The second wartime effort I am thinking about this year is The Devil Brigade. It was a joint US and Canada Special Forces military unit. It earned it's popular name by a German Officer, in response to their blackening their faces and creeping out at night quietly killing soldiers behind the German lines in an effort to make the enemy think there were more of them than there were. This was just one of their imaginative and innovative fighting exploits.
The shoulder patch of the Devil Brigade.
This highly trained 1800 man commando force,, founght with the Americans (1/3 were Canadian soldiers) had an extraordinary history of soldiering in the Second World War. It was decommissioned at the end of the war but soon it inspired the creation of the Green Berets, Delta Force and Navy Seals of the US military and JTF2, Canada's secretive commando unit.
The famous Candian soldier, Tommy Prince, the highest decorated Native (Ojibway) Canadian, about whom my mother used to tell me. Sadly, he had a hard life struggling with all the social ills of the life of First Nations Canadians, to our shame. This too is in need of remembrance.
I trust we all will stop for two minutes of silent reflection at eleven o'clock, to remember, to give thanks and to promise to do better to achieve the goal of every Veteran I have ever heard speak, "Never Again!".
We Shall Keep the Faith
by Moina Michael, November 1918
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
(The is an American woman's response to John McCrae's, In Flander's Fields)
posted by Tossing Pebbles in the Stream @ 4:50 a.m.
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10 Comments:
Philip,
A beautiful tribute to the Allied Veterans. You taught me something once again. I never knew there was a reponse to In Flanders Fields.
Did you know that John McCrae was a doctor and he lived in Guelph, Ontario? You can visit McCrae House by clicking on the link.
Drop by my blog if you have time to read my tribute to veterans on Remembrance Day.
Blessings,
Mary
I beautifully written tribute my friend, wrote right from the heart for sure.
We have our Remeberance Day / Poppy Day here in the UK. I watched the main parade on TV.. as always it is so moving.
Moving tribute, Phillip. You sounded like you might need a hug when you visited my blog, so here's a hug for you...a BIG ONE......H U G..........
We call it Veterans Day here in the States. Being married to a former US Marine, it's a pretty important day around here.
It's another very important day, my son's 13th birthday!
Yes, a truly important day that doesn't get it's just due. As much as I hate war and all that goes with it, the people that have served are very special. Your blog is very interesting and I had no idea some of those things went on.
just stopped to say hi.I like your wood cook stove its awesome.also the moose pictures.
I haven't visited Flanders, but I have visited Ypres and the Menin Gate in Belguim. The graves and the names engraved on the wall there is beyond belief
I popped over from Leann's blog. This poem really touched me when I read it in college *a few* years back. Thank you for reminding me about it.
Philip,
To answer your questions, a sticky post is a technical term for a post that is post dated into the future. When you publish it, it will stay at the tops (which you already know) so people can read it for more than one day. Newer posts go under it.
Sorry for the inconvenience. I wouldn't want to miss your comments. I always enjoy visiting with you.
Blessings,
Mary
Did you ever wonder why the poppy? The fields of France were so torn up by the millions of artillery shells that nothing grew in the mud, exept the poppies. One of the hardiest of plants, and now one of the staples of the economy of Afghanistan. Funny how the poppy seems always to be associated with wars.
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