Lest We Forget

My Sunday Photo



"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch.

It is one of the most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works.

Fort Erie ON

The Fort Erie War Memorial is a large marble slab, engraved with the names of the dead, with a statue of a World War One soldier on top. It was installed by the Niagara Parks Commision in a park-like setting, overlooking Lake Erie and the start of the Niagara River. The city of Buffalo, New York sits across the lake. Only a few hundred metres away is the restored Fort Erie, the site of a several historic battles during the War of 1812.

Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]

World War 1, World War 2, Korea

They gave their today for our tomorrow

WORLD WAR 1 1914-1918

WORLD WAR II 1939-1945

KOREA 1950-1953

[left side/côté gauche]

1939-1945

Donald A. Nixon, John R. Kee, Jack McSpadden, Earl D. White, Elmer Dranger, Charles Partimer, James Moore, Allen W. Troup, Ross C. Clouston, John Dietrich, Harry R. Thyret, Robert R. Wallace, Lloyd G. Erdman, Howard E. Warren, C. Bruce Thompson.

[back/arrière]

1914-1918

OUR HONOURED DEAD

Thomas Langstaff, George Gass, Hubert Dewey Mills, William Arthur Smith, B. Venzeno, Harry Thomas Wardell, Arthur Charles Prior, Charles Hubbard, George O'Donnell, William Atkinson, Frank Darton, Gordon Ferguson, John Byers, Edward Francis H. Bailey, William Louis Barnhart, Ernest Plato, Alfred James Pardoe, Herbert Harry Gear, Edward James Hare, Charles Ball, James Andrew Russell, John Harold Richmond, Leslie Edwards, Alfred James Osborne, Thomas Pengelley, John Bright, Donald Gordon McLean, Henry Garfield Campbell, William MacKendrick Henry, Morris Roy Bunn, Alfred Ingalls, Leslie James Yule, Edward Sutherland Malkin, Charles John Fickel, Robert Watson, Cecil Kendall, William Albert Randall, James Arthur Colin Campbell, Frank Haliburton Russel.

THEIR NAME LIVETH FOREVER MORE

[right side/côté droit]

1939-1945

James E. Osborn, Carl Sauer, R.D. Robertson, Thomas DiPietro, Carl Oswald, Ben R. Cunliffe, Fred G. Thompson, William Prow, Hartford Cook, Geo D. Fitz-gibbon, Earl W. Lemcke, Frank H. Walden, Gordon Barnhart, Charles Rose, Donald G. Leask, Earl L.G. Speakman, Roland Fisher, Frederick T. Gardner, John C. Wilhelms

Built by Niagara Parks in 1939 in the of Fort Erie, Mather Arch is a beautiful monument surrounded by manicured gardens and is dedicated to the architect of the International Peace Bridge.

You can see the Peace Bridge between the two flagpoles.

Across the street at the Legion is a memorial garden.

And a huge mural.