“In Flanders Fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row…” So begins John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields,” written while he served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force on the battlefields of Europe during the First World War. McCrae wrote his most well-known work following the death of Lieut. Alexis Helmer at the Battle of Ypres in May 1915. Sitting in an ambulance and staring back at the grave of his friend, he reflected on the meaning of life, death and war. McCrae himself, affected by the physical toil of the war, died in January 1918 of cerebral meningitis in Wimereux, France.
As Trinity College School students and staff prepared to honour the sacrifices of those who died in service of country during the annual Remembrance Day chapel, they each donned a poppy, a sign that we have not forgotten. We remember Lieut. Alexis Helmer and Lieut.-Col. John McCrae, we remember the TCS alumni and staff who have served in times of war, and we remember all those who did not come home from battle.
This year’s Service of Remembrance was held on Monday, November 6th (with November 11th falling during a school break), and began in the Memorial Chapel. The service was led by TCS Chaplain, Maj. The Revd. Canon Don Aitchison, who is also Brigade Chaplain of 32 Canadian Brigade Group. Mr. Randy Mills served as organist and conductor of the Chapel Choir.
The school prefects shared stories of TCS alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice, reminding us of their lives as students, walking the same halls and playing on the same sports fields as our current students. These were young people, in many cases just a year or two older than our senior students, when they were called to service.
The service continued as the congregation moved outside to surround the Memorial Cross. Stuart Grainger, head of Trinity College School, read from the Book of Remembrance the names of the School’s war dead. And Grade 12 student Nya F. read John McCrae’s poem. TCS Parents’ Guild President Chantal Campbell placed a wreath at the base of the Memorial Cross on behalf of the guild.
Grade 10 student Michael H. played the Last Post and Rouse to bookend a moment of silence that allowed all to reflect on the sacrifices of those who gave their lives in hopes that we might live in freedom and peace.
The wooden crosses surrounding the Memorial Cross, replicas of those created by TCS faculty member Charles Scott during World War II and bearing the names of alumni killed in that war, will remain in place until after November 11th.
