Lest We Forget (2015)

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald has a nice pre-Remembrance Day article, published today:

At the Great War's battlefields, where courage and sorrow still sing

Chronicle Herald news editor Christine Soucie Madill visits Flanders Fields and other battlegrounds of Belgium and France, where thousands of brave Canadians are buried and commemorated

It was a stirring moment during a recent four-day tour of First World War sites in Flanders, Belgium, and northern France. On our final day, at the Army Museum in Brussels, our guide opened a notebook and, in a reverent tone recited John McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields, in English and in Flemish, a translation he had written himself.

McCrae’s name was uttered with the utmost respect by many of the Belgians I met. They honour the former poet and army doctor at Essex Farm, a memorial site and cemetery, and In Flanders Fields is the name of the museum in Ypres.

It is not surprising that the name McCrae would resonate in Belgium. After all, Flanders Fields are their fields.

One hundred years later, these fields are farmland and there are many small picture-perfect towns. But there are ghosts and constant reminders; it is not possible to drive more than several kilometres through the countryside without seeing memorials and cemeteries.

(Read more at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

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