From the City of Vancouver website...
(if you're planning to go and don't have a poppy yet, mr. pinkfreud's scout troop will be handing them out above Victory Square on Pender St.)
*********************************************
November 9, 2005
Remembrance Day Ceremonies
The City of Vancouver's 2005 Remembrance Day ceremonies will be held on:
Friday, November 11, 2005 at 10:30 a.m.
Cenotaph at Victory Square
(West Hastings Street, between Cambie and Hamilton)
These ceremonies, which include a wreath laying to honour those who gave their lives, will mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, the Year of the Veteran, and the 87th anniversary of the First World War Armistice.
The prelude at the Cenotaph will begin at 10:10 a.m. with a performance by the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir. The official program begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by two minutes of silence at 11 a.m., and the placing of wreaths at the Cenotaph. A parade of veterans, ex-service personnel and the Canadian Armed Forces will then move west on Hastings Street and march past the saluting base at Seymour and Hastings, where the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, the Hon. Iona Campagnolo, will take the salute. She will be joined by the Premier of B.C., Gordon Campbell, and Mayor Larry Campbell of Vancouver.
Weather permitting there will be a commemorative fly-past at 11 a.m. by an Aurora aircraft of 422 Maritime Patrol Squadron, and small aircraft of the Recreational Aircraft Association and Western Warbirds.
Complete program details are available online at: vancouver.ca/whatsnew.cfm
There are also simultaneous Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place at several Vancouver parks, including Stanley Park's Japanese Memorial (west of Aquarium), Memorial Park South, and Grandview Park Cenotaph.
TRAFFIC ADVISORY:
Sections of streets near Victory Square will be closed from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. This includes Pender, Cambie, Beatty, Georgia and Hamilton. Hastings will be closed from Cambie west to Seymour. There will also be small parades proceeding from John Oliver High School to Memorial Park, and along Commercial Drive from Napier Street to 6th Avenue.
Remembrance Day
Moderator: Team Captains
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Toppy Vann
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 9793
- Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:56 pm
Happy Remembrance Day to all at Lionbackers.com. Hopefully you and your families will have a moment to recall all those who have served and who serve the cause of freedom in Canada's armed forces.
November 11 is not a day to memorialize war but to celebrate peace among nations and to remember the sacrifices that so many have made and are being made today by Canada's military at home and around the world.
Canadians are by nature and circumstance a nation that has not sought war for war sake but when called to defend freedom of the free world, our citizens at home and abroad answered the call in two world wars and in many peace keeping missions throughout the globe.
One of the best moments is at BC Place during Lions games when the crowd pays tribute to the veterans. It is a moving event that always bring a smile to my face when the announcer asks the crowd to stand when about 95% already are.
"In Flanders Fields"
by: John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
+++=======
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
The story behind the poem:
McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.
November 11 is not a day to memorialize war but to celebrate peace among nations and to remember the sacrifices that so many have made and are being made today by Canada's military at home and around the world.
Canadians are by nature and circumstance a nation that has not sought war for war sake but when called to defend freedom of the free world, our citizens at home and abroad answered the call in two world wars and in many peace keeping missions throughout the globe.
One of the best moments is at BC Place during Lions games when the crowd pays tribute to the veterans. It is a moving event that always bring a smile to my face when the announcer asks the crowd to stand when about 95% already are.
"In Flanders Fields"
by: John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
+++=======
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
The story behind the poem:
McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
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TheLionKing
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 25103
- Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
- Location: Vancouver
A moving tribute to our vets:
http://www.daurie.ca/twomin.html
Background:
http://www.army.gc.ca/chief_land_staff/ ... h/Home.asp
http://www.daurie.ca/twomin.html
Background:
http://www.army.gc.ca/chief_land_staff/ ... h/Home.asp
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Lions_Fan_4_Life
- Legend
- Posts: 2949
- Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:49 pm
- Location: North Vancouver
not that that moving tribute isnt good but, i've seen that 6 times today!TheLionKing wrote:A moving tribute to our vets:
http://www.daurie.ca/twomin.html
Background:
http://www.army.gc.ca/chief_land_staff/ ... h/Home.asp
Happy Remembrance day to all Lionbackers
"I hope he enjoys Stornoway and I hope he's happy there for a long time"
-Prime Minister Harper on new Liberal Leader St?phane Dion
-Prime Minister Harper on new Liberal Leader St?phane Dion
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AC/DC Rocks
- Champion
- Posts: 924
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:09 am
- Location: Surrey
What a powerfull poem!
Allways brings a tear to my eye.
A big thank-you to all veterans and peace keepers!
Allways brings a tear to my eye.
A big thank-you to all veterans and peace keepers!
Bighill is Badass
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Canuck_4_Life
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 3093
- Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 12:07 am
- Location: Parts Unknown
For whatever reason, the Annual Salute to Veterans at a chosen Lions game always seems to have more of an effect on me than the actual Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victory Square...........
My latest Lions albums (updated Nov 4):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... =602020965
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... =602020965
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... =602020965
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... =602020965
When I was in elementary school, our music teacher taught us to sing this song before Remembrance Day.
--------------------------
Soldiers and sailors and airmen too
Fought for us across the sea
Brave and courageous, strong and true
Keeping Canada free
I'll wear a poppy on Remembrance Day
To show I'm proud of what they did for me
God bless my country and the prayer I'll pray
God keep Canada free.
--------------------------
Soldiers and sailors and airmen too
Fought for us across the sea
Brave and courageous, strong and true
Keeping Canada free
I'll wear a poppy on Remembrance Day
To show I'm proud of what they did for me
God bless my country and the prayer I'll pray
God keep Canada free.
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pinkfreud
I cry like a baby at the Remembrance Day ceremonies. I'm almost embarassed to go. But it's always worthwhile to see the veterans parade by. After the parade some of the old fellas, decked out in their medals, stop to talk to the scouts. The kids inevitably ask them things like "Did you ever kill anyone?" They don't seem to mind though - they are honest about it. They love talking about what they received their medals for. I'm going to miss them as time goes by and we lose them.Canuck_4_Life wrote:For whatever reason, the Annual Salute to Veterans at a chosen Lions game always seems to have more of an effect on me than the actual Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victory Square...........
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Sir Purrcival
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 4621
- Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2003 11:48 am
- Location: Comox Valley
On November 16th 2004, I lost a very good friend who was with the RAF in WWII. The last day that I actually saw him alive was Nov 11th. I think of him often especially at this time of year. He was very proud of his contribution and that was how it should be. He flew more than 30 missions over Europe in a Lancaster Bomber. He didn't like what he had to do and in the end even though he was never wounded, he was. There were many like him. Young men and women who gave up their innocence and a life free of the ugliness of war. It was a sacrifice that many of us have never had to make and a special brand of courage we'll never truly understand. For my friend and all the others like him, I can only say thank you. It doesn't seem hardly enough.
Peace to you all brothers and sisters of today and yesterday.
Peace to you all brothers and sisters of today and yesterday.
Tell me how long must a fan be strong? Ans. Always.
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LFITQ
- Team Captain
- Posts: 10263
- Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2002 1:36 pm
- Location: Prince George, BC
- Contact:
Today is the day we pay our respects to the veterans who have sacrificed much, some even their lives, so that we may enjoy the freedoms we take for granted.
As such I thought it would be appropriate to share with everyone this song that has been sent to me for the past couple of years. It is called "A Pittance of Time" and was written by Terry Kelly.
His website about the song is located at: http://www.terry-kelly.com/pittance.htm#
You can download the song and the video from that website.
Here are the lyrics to the song:
They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it?s our land
Look at his little child, there?s no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists
But two minutes I will bide
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There?s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Peace is fought for and won in numerous ways
Take two minutes would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it?s a pittance of time
It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else?s war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can?t kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It?s a pittance of time
In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time
As such I thought it would be appropriate to share with everyone this song that has been sent to me for the past couple of years. It is called "A Pittance of Time" and was written by Terry Kelly.
His website about the song is located at: http://www.terry-kelly.com/pittance.htm#
You can download the song and the video from that website.
Here are the lyrics to the song:
They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it?s our land
Look at his little child, there?s no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists
But two minutes I will bide
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There?s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Peace is fought for and won in numerous ways
Take two minutes would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it?s a pittance of time
It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else?s war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can?t kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It?s a pittance of time
In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time
Now that I don't live in Quesnel do I need to change my handle??
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Lions_Fan_4_Life
- Legend
- Posts: 2949
- Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:49 pm
- Location: North Vancouver
Lion King already posted that.LFITQ wrote:Today is the day we pay our respects to the veterans who have sacrificed much, some even their lives, so that we may enjoy the freedoms we take for granted.
As such I thought it would be appropriate to share with everyone this song that has been sent to me for the past couple of years. It is called "A Pittance of Time" and was written by Terry Kelly.
His website about the song is located at: http://www.terry-kelly.com/pittance.htm#
You can download the song and the video from that website.
Here are the lyrics to the song:
They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it?s our land
Look at his little child, there?s no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists
But two minutes I will bide
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It?s a pittance of time
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There?s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Peace is fought for and won in numerous ways
Take two minutes would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it?s a pittance of time
It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else?s war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can?t kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It?s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It?s a pittance of time
In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time
I agree with Canuckk4Life, the thing at the Lions Games always gets to me more then remembrance day.
"I hope he enjoys Stornoway and I hope he's happy there for a long time"
-Prime Minister Harper on new Liberal Leader St?phane Dion
-Prime Minister Harper on new Liberal Leader St?phane Dion
???Happy Remembrance Day
somehow, I never heard that expression before. isnt Rememberence day supposed to be a somber day of reflection, rememberence and Respectfulness. ????
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
UBC also has a ceremony every year in the War Memorial Gymnasium building, which I attended this morning. In fact the crowds have gotten so large there in recent years that they have moved the ceremony from the lobby near the main entrance into the larger baskeball court area, with the bleacher seating also being used. Unfortunately someone left afterward with my umbrella :no:pinkfreud wrote:There are also simultaneous Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place at several Vancouver parks, including Stanley Park's Japanese Memorial (west of Aquarium), Memorial Park South, and Grandview Park Cenotaph.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Charlene
KnowItAll wrote:???Happy Remembrance Day
somehow, I never heard that expression before. isnt Rememberence day supposed to be a somber day of reflection, rememberence and Respectfulness. ????
I noticed that, but i really don't think he meant it in a disrespectful way
