Monday Monuments and Memorials – Lt Jean Brillant, VC, MC, Villers Bretoneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, France

Lt Jean Brillant, VC, MC, Villiers Bretoneux Military Cemetery

Jean Baptiste Arthur Brillant was born on 15 March 1890 at Assametquaghan, Quebec, the son of Joseph Brillant and Rose-de-Lima Raiche. He died of wounds on 10 August 1918 in France. His tombstone at Villiers Bretoneux Cemetery reads:

Lieutenant Jean Brillant, VC, MC, 22ieme En. Canadien français, 10 aout 1918, age 28 ans.

Fils de Joseph Brillant. Enrole volontairement à Rimouski, Province de Quebec. Tombe glorieusement sur le sol de ses aieux. Bon sang ne peut mentir.

Translation: Son of Joseph Brillant. Enlisted voluntarily at Rimouski, Province of Quebec. Fell gloriously on the soil of his ancestors. Good blood cannot lie.

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Monday Monuments and Memorials – Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, Ieper, Belgium

Mairi Chisholm & Elsie Knocker, Ypres

Mairi Chisholm, Angel of Pervyse

Elsie Knocker, Angel of Pervyse

Mairi Chisholm, Elsie Knocker and Shot, Ypres

Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm shared a love for the thrill of motorbikes. When war was declared in 1914, the friends zoomed off to London together to do their bit. ‘Their bit’ was to establish a first-aid nursing post close to the front, give the first line of care to wounded soldiers, and transport them by ambulance to field hospitals. Elsie and Mairi, nicknamed the Angels of Pervyse, were decorated for bravery and sacrifice, and were amongst the most famous women of WW1.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Badjeros & Ravenna War Memorials, Grey Country, ON

Badjeros monument in South Line Union Cemetery

Badjeros monument watches over Dalton Sinclair’s grave

Collingwood Township monument at Ravenna, Ontario

Ravenna, Ontario war memorial

Ravenna war memorial honours those who served

Badjeros monument erected in 1919

Badjeros – names of those who served

“Shop local” was the touchstone for some small communities in Grey County, when it came time to honour their neighbours who had served in WW1. Three similar monuments were erected in three hamlets, all likely from the same company in nearby Collingwood.

Compare the monument at Eugenia Falls to those at Badjeros and Ravenna.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Canadian Bank of Commerce plaques, Ottawa and Montreal

Canadian Bank of Commerce plaque, 119 Sparks St, Ottawa

Canadian Bank of Commerce plaques, 610 St Jacques St, Montreal

In addition to the monument at its head office in Toronto, the Canadian Bank of Commerce honoured employees from each branch who served in WW1. I’ve come across some of the branch plaques in Ottawa and Montreal, in what is now the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Poppies Redux

Knitted, crocheted and felted poppies, mostly on the Western Front

Mass-produced poppies are major fundraisers for the British and Canadian Legions, who fervently guard registered trademarks. I much prefer hand-made commemorative poppies – knitted, crocheted, beaded or felted. These seem to be more popular in Australia and New Zealand, where online patterns abound. Look, for example, at the 5000 Poppies campaign in Australia. Amazing!

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Wimereux, France

Anna Elizabeth Whitely, one of 13 WW1 women buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery

12 of thirteen WW1 women buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery

Each nurse, VAD and canteen worker tells a story.

Few women who served in WW1 are buried near the Western Front. Those who are can mostly be found in cemeteries near the coast, close to large hospitals or staging centres. They died mostly of disease, although some were certainly caught in the crossfire of war.

On 21 April 1918, Nursing Sister Anna Elizabeth Whitely died at Boulogne of a stomach tumour. She was buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, the first Canadian woman in WW1 whose final resting place was in France.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Canadian National Vimy Memorial, Vimy France

Canadian National Vimy Memorial, Vimy France

Vimy Monument: The Spirit of Sacrifice and the Virtues

Canada Bereft overlooks Douai Plain

April 9 marks the 101^th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, part of the Battle of Arras. On a snowy Easter Monday in 1917, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together for the first (and only) time. Training and tactics won the ridge, but at the cost of about 3,600 Canadian lives.

While opinions differ on the importance of the battle itself, most would agree that Vimy Ridge is an important site of Canadian remembrance: a 250-acre memorial park on the former battleground is the site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – The Brooding Soldier, St Julien, Belgium

Canadian Memorial at Vancouver Corner, St Julien, Belgium – The Brooding Soldier

English dedication on The Brooding Soldier, St Julien, Belgium

French dedication on The Brooding Soldier, St Julien, Belgium

The Canadian Memorial at St Julien, commonly known as The Brooding Soldier, stands at Vancouver Corner, 7 km NE of Ieper/Ypres. It marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians stood (and 2000 died) against the first German gas attacks, in the second battle of Ypres in April 1915.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Memorial Window, St Bartholomew’s Church, Ottawa

Memorial Window in St Bartholomew’s Church, by Wilhelmina Geddes

Inscription in Memorial Window, St Bartholomew’s Church

Parishioners of St Bartholomew’s Church who served in WW1

Description of the Connaught window (John Whitehead, scribe)

Governor General Connaught’s staff killed in WW1

St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, on MacKay St overlooking the grounds of Rideau Hall, has long enjoyed an association with its Rideau Hall neighbour, Canada’s Governor General. The most splendid manifestation of vice-regal patronage is the east window, donated by HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (the third son of Queen Victoria and then Governor General of Canada) in memory of members of his personal staff killed in WW1.

The window was designed and executed by Irish artist, Wilhelmina Geddes – her only work in North America and now widely considered to be her masterpiece. It was unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales on 9 November 1919.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver

Mountain View Cemetery, Jones 45 section and Cross of Sacrifice

Private Herbert Bailey, Mountain View Cemetery

Each soldier tells a story.

Visitors to Mountain View Cemetery, located west of Fraser St between 31^st Ave and 43^rd Ave in Vancouver, can find some 329 Commonwealth war graves of those who served in WW1, a Cross of Sacrifice, and a spectacular view of the Coast Mountains north of Vancouver. The Jones 45 section of the cemetery has the largest concentration of WW1 war graves.