Most Remembrance Day services focus on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Prospect Cemetery’s ceremony marches to its own drummer, proud of a special history. Remembering at sunrise began in 1928, soon after the 1918 Armistice. Toronto Ladies’ Auxiliaries left poppies on soldiers’ graves in […]
Other war memorials
15 posts
Fire fighters race towards danger even in times of peace. “First in, last out” is understood. The attitude, skills, and stamina of trained fire fighters are valuable in times of war. The view of fire fighters as everyday heroes is recognized daily in Ypres (Ieper) Belgium, a city devastated by […]
A “gallery” of memorial plaques inside the front entrance to Old City Hall is plain and unassuming. Interested visitors, or those involved in court cases, will see them only if they glance up as they walk down the stairs on their way out. High enough that some of the small […]
In 1938, the Toronto Star ran a photo of the previous year’s Armistice Day at Toronto City Hall. The caption said of the gathered crowd: To most of them the Great War is an impersonal memory; evoked in silence on Armistice Day when the nation pauses to honour the fallen; […]
Our 2018 fall collection consists of four memorials from three Lakeshore communities of Etobicoke. The southwest boundary of Etobicoke sits along the north shore of Lake Ontario. A few miles east of “the Lakeshore,” concrete roadways and condo canyons hide the lake, except for occasional glimpses. Mimico, New Toronto, and […]
Finding new things to say about “In Flanders Fields” is tricky. Most Canadians can recite a line or two. Many know the whole poem off by heart; maybe pausing to ponder did the poppies “blow” or “grow.” (The answer is “blow” in the first line; “grow” in the last verse.) […]
I think it caught people’s attention, and maybe made them think about Remembrance Day just a little bit longer. Claire Franceschetti commenting on her Remembrance Day project They had lived down the street, around the corner, or maybe right next door. They were young Humbersiders who went off to two […]
Toronto neighbourhoods offered both surprises and traditional memorials as we organized 1,508 new names for “back to school” 2017. A happy surprise was solving the puzzle of an unidentified WWI plaque displayed in a local café. The long-forgotten Aura Lee Club, a social and sports group active from 1887 to […]
An enduring mystery at an east end Toronto café is the memorial shown here. Names on a bronze plaque with dates (1914-1918) indicate a tribute to those who died in the Great War. The inscription reads: Our comrades / Who / Sixty-three in all / “Played the game” / Even […]
Thank you Veterans of Canada -sidewalk message in front of Old City Hall cenotaph Toronto District School Board joined the many groups laying wreaths at Old City Hall’s cenotaph ceremony this November 11th. Hours after the crowd had gone, people lingered to “plant” their poppies, take photographs, and read the […]