yup and I'm one who memorized the poem and still remember a lot of it to this day

As a first generation Canadian (English/Ukrainian parents) growing up in the sixties, learning this poem with other children, buying a poppy, and attending Remembrance Day at the Cenotaph is one of many shared experiences that formed me as a Canadian.

As a 13 year old in 1961, I joined the Royal Canadian Army Cadets. Prior to Remembrance Day, the Corps would go around our small community selling poppiues in respect for those brave men and women whom sacrifised so much for us. Yes, I remmeber Colonel McCraes pogiant poem. I always feel so saddened in memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifise.

@@annteve My parents came from the Netherlands after the war. We feel the significance of the Canadian war effort a little more directly than the people of Ukraine would. Canadian soldiers stayed in my grandfather's farm and used it as a base to look for pockets of German soldiers. Many people of the Ukraine have their own reasons for remembering the fallen soldiers of that war. It was a terrible time in history. It's good to hear that those Remembrance services helped to form your identity as a Canadian. What's sad is that Don Cherry wants new immigrants to learn the history that we both honour and he was fired for it. It's sad that there are people in this country don't feel the same way that you and I do. A country without a history can't be a nation. It becomes a region of disparate people, without a feeling of a bond or unity. It becomes a source of division. What's amazing is that 2 people, from such different backgrounds, Ukraine and the Netherlands can come to this country and become as one people. That's what this poem means to me and I'm feeling that you believe the same.

@@JackHaveman52 in retirement, history has become an increasing interest. With age, I have passed through the stages of life of both my parents. It’s looking back that gives meaning to our lives. Late in his life, I asked my father if he had any wish to return to England-even if only to be buried. “‘No”, he said, ‘“This my home.” His was the first burial of our family tree in Canada. His was the first cemetery in Canada that I could visit or say “I have family buried here. There is a Canadian legacy greater than my own life in Canada. And as I read on the headstones surrounding his, names from every corner of the globe, I know that my sense of being Canadian is shared by so many-and that is a wonderful thought.

I hadn't even watched the video yet and I was writing the poem in the comments and had to delete it i didn't realize the video would be about him. This definitely deserves to be remembered

His brother was chief surgeoun at the 16th Ontario Military Hospital Orpington , Kent.Where Ilive. The people of Canada raised funds to build the Maple Leaf Block on the site , which still serves the localcommunity.

I had the honour of visiting the McCrae home during a visit to Guelph. It was so many years ago I feel inspired to visit again.

@@accidentaltourist7101 You should add Ipere and the Essex Farm ADS to your bucket list.

Viewer from Kitchener here!

Well said. THG is our present day's Paul Harvey.

There will never be another Paul Harvey but THG sure makes his own niche! Great videos, all of them.

Hear hear!

Paul Harvey was wrong about basically everything and held some pretty disgusting opinions.

I agree!!!

When I was a kid in America everybody knew what the poppies were about. Ladies auxiliaries would sell them outside grocery stores. So sad this has been forgotten

As a German I never really learned about the Canadians and their contributions to the war when I was in school, and only learned a bit here and there about it later. Definitely learned something today, and I finally know the story behind this amazing poem.

The Colonel should have known. The DVA is always in front of our grocery store on Memorial Day and Veterans Day (Remembrance Day) handing out their version of the poppy.

The poppy tribute was started by an American woman Moina Micheal in 1918. She was inspired by McRae's poem. It was a tradition that Canada and other Commenwealth countries adopted while the Americans somehow didn't really run with it. It is almost sacrilegious here in Canada not to wear a poppy leading up to Remembrance day on November 11th.

@@adenkyramud5005 During ww2 Hitler posted a guard at the canadian vimy ridge memorial ordering it to not be touched or defaced, and to be protected

It's ironic because the custom began in the States by Moina Michael.

Fittingly, the last surviving WWI veteran was Florence Green. Whose name could be interpreted to mean "blossoming field". A bitter sweet coincidence in homage of the poppies of Flanders Fields.

I’m Canadian; I wear both a red poppy to remember Commonwealth/Allied veterans, and a white peace poppy for all those who suffer from war. We wear them prior to Remembrance/Armistice Day, November 11. www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies

In Franc ethe flower is the Forget Me Not. Blue is the French National Colour , and the colour of the French Armies coats at the time.

@@51WCDodge -Thank you. Very interesting. Forget-me-not closest to the horizon blue of the uniform.

Canadians also torched the American's White House in the 1812 War. Retribution was swift and decisive when a library was torched in a boarder town.

@@pegtooth2006 Then again, we Americans failed at "liberating" Canada twice.

If there's one thing us Germans have learned it's that the Canadians might be super nice to you, but if you piss them off you better run fast and far or you're completely screwed

@@BHuang92 We aren’t liberated. We still pay England tribute.

@@whereswaldo5740 we dont want, nor need liberation

It's done down here in the States, But it's done on Memorial Day (As that day is for remembering those lost in war). November 11 here is "Veteran's Day" which honors all Veterans. We remember Canada's contributions as an ally in all conflicts. If you ask the average American who our best Allies are the answer is almost always Canada and England. 👍😊👍

My Grandfather served in the Austrian army on the Eastern front and then the Italian front. At the end of the war he said he asked some Canadians where Canada was ,they said head west and he did. He then fought in the Canadian army in WW2 and came home from that one .

Same.

Hear, hear!

😢 you and me both

got me on flanders fields

He makes me cry more than I wish to admit.

I as well. My maternal Grandfather was 15 when he signed up against the German's, his mother served as a Nurse in Britain and his father from Malta served many campaigns. I am a decorated Medic Veteran for Canada.

I've visted the Essex Farm ADS where he was posted. Think of a slightly oversized Concrete coal shed, about fifteen feet deep , seven or eight high and about four wide. Three of them side by side dug into a bank . On once side the Yeser canal, the other is now the road.In front about another four to six feet a bank about ten feet high. Behind you what is now Essex Farm CWWG cemetery. Now add darknes cold, and enemy shells .

@@51WCDodge 😢 How anyone could treat casualties under such conditions is beyond my understanding. I am for ever humbled by these men and women. Their courage in the face of appalling violence is magnificent.There is no honour sufficient to represent what they endured. Never Forget💐.

@@sirmeowthelibrarycat It was extremes , on a good day you could be wounded on the Western Front at 8 am and be back in a UK base hospital by 6 pm. The Royal Army Medical Corp have the majority of VC and Bar holders. There was a very organised evacuation system, One odd fact: In The Commonwealth forces the Stretcher Beares were often the Regimental bandsman, not RAMC personnel so had arm bands marked SB. The German's however the stretcher beares had Red Cross arm bands. According to the Usage Of War, the Red Cross was only dispalyed by Medical Personnel. There was also Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corp, who were posted to feild and base hospitals in France along with the FANY First Aid Nursing Yeomanary.

@@51WCDodge 🤔 Thank you for your reply. I am well aware of all that you describe, as I have studied the Great War for fifty years. I am also a member of the Western Front Association. There is little that has escaped my attention about that calamitous period of history.

@@sirmeowthelibrarycat That's the problem! I got started on the Great War by a certain AR. Don't know wether to thank him or curse him :-) I'm from the Channel Island's so grew up around the results of the WW2 Occupation and the people who taught and influenced me ,a lot experinced it first hand.

Canada’s involvement in wars around the world to this day should not be underestimated or unappreciated. They really have had no dog in the fight yet they have willingly made themselves available. It show a profound love of themselves and for others. I wish the ‘war to end all wars’ could have been just that. Non-Canadian

@@piltdownman2151 Thank you for your kind comments.

Over 600000 served overseas, many more served at home. With a total population of only 8 million one has only to divide by 2, and then by 2 again, to account for fighting age, to really calculate the extent of Canadian participation. It is no wonder every small town in Canada to this day contains a neatly manicured cenotaph not yet forgotten to time.

@@scottmccambley764 I too was struck by the extent of the participation and also initially divided by two to get 4MM males. But then thought, probably a good number of women served too. Nevertheless, however calculated, it's still an impressive ratio. Good on Canada!

Yes, beautifully and correctly read. So well done.

We love our neighbours South of the border, too!

Funny enough, it all started in the US. Didn't get to Britian till about 1921, so thise year is the Centenary.

My mother to even until her late 70s and fighting dementia could still recite that poem she had learned as a child

My mother as well. Funny, I grew up in Canada and never realized it was a Canadian author!

Same. I cry everytime

We do. It is a beautiful monument and it I the only example ever of Canada being assigned a gender (Motherland, Fatherland, etc). The statue of Mother Canada weeping for her lost sons and daughters is poignant and heartbreaking. At the going down of the Sun, And in Morning, We shall remember Them.

We did indeed - and we took it.

The Vimy memorial alone could have its own episode of THG

Canadians fought bravely where ever they happened to fight; in both world wars.

Never forget that the Vimy War Memorial is not a memorial to those who fell, nor is it a memorial to glory. It is a Memorial to Grief.

Well said

Canadian parents never had to send their children off to war because we’ve basically never had a draft. Apart from maybe 50,000 or so in 120+ years, every Canadian who ever went into harm’s way from the Boer War to Afghanistan has been a volunteer. Including the ones that liberated NW Europe. Nobody sent them, they went willingly.

today its remembrance day in the netherlands. and we remember those who are fallen. 76 years ago it ended kinda weird to think how quick time goes

@@reccecs4 That is not Quite true. The vast majority of Canadian forces were volunteer but much like other culturally distasteful things, while less than others, it still existed here. www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/recruitment-and-conscription/conscription-1917/

@Henry Luka yeah and get a virus like you thats posting in random comments about the second word war. And someone that had a gift of not sending his kid to war. Weirdo 😂

Dutch spelling is Ieper, as this is in Flanders, in the North of Belgium, where Dutch is the main language. While far from the only battle front of WWI, as a Belgian, it was always tangibly close. There was a French military cemetary in my village, and Ieper is only a relatively short drive away. This meant the area was a natural destination for school trips. When seeing the many graves, it really hits home how gruesome war is. The area is still laden with unexploded ordinance from the time, farmers just line the rural roads with old ammo after ploughing their fields. And yes, sometimes there are gas canisters, too...

Thank you for the history guy. As an American with both great-grandparents from Canada and Son living in Toronto and married to a Canadian, I did not realize how many Canadians served in World War 1. I know they have always been our staunchest Ally. I sure wish we could send them 80 million doses of the vaccine so that my son and daughter-in-law could come here to visit. I think we owe them that at the very least for all of their service and Goodwill. God bless Canada and God bless America

If in the area visit the "hospital" that was used during WW1. Very basic hollow concrete blocks would have been the scene of many horrors.

@@stuartmcpherson1921 Wondefully sited , next door to a stinking canal. But hey! Easy acess over the top to the cemetery. A place to give you the shivvers.

The short video tribute: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/isefatCSmdDchYU.html

My Mom and her family came from Elora, not far away.

Loook up Essex Farm ADS, which is where he was based, The story of how the Poppy came to symbolise Remeberance is also a story worth telling. Started in US, went to Canada thgen back to England in 1921. In France the flower is the ForgetMe Not.Often on the Western Front you will find clumps of both planted together, and a lot of Maple Trees. Blue being the National Colour and the coats of the Poilu (Hairy) ones, as French soldiers were known at the time.

You might be from Kentucky, but you were following a Canadian tradition, and those boys in wheelchairs were playing a Canadian game! In some sense, I guess you're a little more Canadian at heart then you might have realized ;)

@@K1ddkanuck : No part of me is Canadian, don't want to be and never will be Canadian. I was born 1950. When my dad was in the VFW I was a child. I now know the history of WWI and WWII. The United States gave many lives and resources in both wars to keep Britain (Canada), France, Italy, Germany and all of Europe from the fate of Socialism. At the time Canada was a separate country but obliged to the British Crown until 1982 (two countries, one rule). Without the USA you would not now be Canadian. Canada cannot defend itself to this day. The celebration of "remembrance day" and the symbolic "poppy" is therefore universal no matter the beginnings. You probably support Trudeau (socialism). I support Donald Trump and the United States of America. Stuff your dumb reply.

indeed - but I do wish that Lance would get the pronunciation of Commonwealth ranks correct: "leftenant" - not "lootenant" - but it is a small price to pay.

To our Deprament!

My great granduncle also fought and died in the Battle of Amiens. He was serving in the British 4th Hussars (The Queen's Own) Cavalry Regiment when he was killed in action on 10 Aug 1918. He's buried there in France. I actually have another great granduncle who fought with the South Staffordshire Regiment and was killed in action on 03 Oct 1917. He's buried in Flanders Fields.

Canada's flag was never the Union Jack. The Red Ensign was a just a British Navy flag that had different coats of arms on it at different times. The flag that Canadian soldiers fought under during the First World War was different from the flag that their sons fought under during the Second World War and that in turn was different from the ensign that was finally replaced with a truly Canadian flag in 1965. None of the various Red Ensigns was ever the de jure flag of Canada, it was just the de facto flag. I went to primary school here in Ontario in the 1960s and I'm very proud that we adopted our own flag when I was four years old.

@@Richard-on7xk Chances are she didn't know exactly what the Ensign was called. Though it is ignorant to a degree I get where it's coming from.

@@PaulRudd1941 I get where it's coming from too. I'm a sixth-generation Canadian and I'm very glad that we finally adopted a flag that represents us and not the Brits. Interestingly enough, the idea of Canadians redesigning a flag for ourselves originally appeared in the 1920s after the First World War. It got bogged down in Parliament and then came the Dirty Thirties, another world war, Korea, the Suez Crisis (which played a role in adopting a Canadian flag) and then finally we did it, a flag designed by Canadians!

You may find this intresting. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nNuPiaV1qcmwdo0.html

@David Single Would have been nice to stay on topic, and nowhere was China mentioned . Your comments are ill advised.

Same here.

Very well said Jayson Taylor , I wholeheartedly agree !!

@Walter King You, my friend, are an embarrassment to Great Britain. P.S. I hope that someday you'll learn to write proper English.

@Walter King Given your use of Americanisms I'm beginning to wonder if you even are British. Anyway, you're definitely a child. When you're older you'll realize what a fool you've made of yourself on this and many other occasions. Stay safe, son, and try not to say anything _too_ embarrassing. P.S. Work on your use of punctuation, this is important in English.

I can assure you that the cemetries and memeorials are revered by those who live there.

Shhhhh

ExPFC Wintergreen v2.0 Ah yes! “Loose lips..,” and all that.

@@howdyahworkthisthing1520 THE GOOSE FLIES SOUTH AT MIDNIGHT 😉

The Corn Poppy is a weed. It grows on brocken disturbed land. It was about the only thing that could grow.

Then I was right. All my Canadian aunts, uncles and cousins knew this like I knew the Pledge of Alleigance.

This history used to be taught in Canadian schools, but isn't so much any more, because teachers these days suck for the most part.

@@gatekeeper65 - no one wants to teach the horrors of war because then you will have demonstrations against war as with the Vietnam war. Then countries will need to implement draft’s and we all know who gets stuck being drafted?

@@MrWATCHthisWAY someone once said "he who forgets his past is doomed to repeat them" gatekeeper has a point... the whole point of teaching kids of the war is to show HEY this was a HUGE mistake dont forget. dont repeat. now you have kids who have NO idea the freedoms they have are from those people... please critical thinking is a lost thing it seems

@@fatesDeath - critical thinking is paramount for a society to progress and that’s why I believe history should be taught even the history ones society would rather forget it ever happened. These are the lessons that young minds should know, as you mentioned to avoid making again. But that is not always the case. Just look at us in the US. Eyes wide shut.

@@MrWATCHthisWAY depends how you look at the US..."critical race theory" all the race baiting, the sjw's calling everyone natzis... what used to be the repubicians trying to shut people down because of religion ... its now flipped and you have the far leftys. who are shutting people down and ignoring the past "antifa" ones who helped cause alot of strife in the last 15 years... prod boys were made BECAUSE of the groups antifa but there IS antifa groups and they go arround being the fascists and yes they are is the militia side of the democrat party.... sorry not sorry. you can claim that about the proud boys.. though i can show you 900 more times antifa caused a fight or decided to break something or hurt someone or try to shut someone down LIKE A FACIST because they can .... cover thier face and f punch people you disagree with .. NOT OK the religion of WOKE says do as the mob says or face the music.... i dont agree with those movments or ideas and yes the woke mob wants to destroy what IS, the usa/canada to stand on top of a rubble pile and claim they won.. won what a heap of chaos and whats left of us? usa isnt perfect but compared to a shit ton of other countrys its farrr better by miles.... if it was the worst thing to exist you wouldnt have millions of people crossing illegally into the usa..... because you do not see people dying to enter africia....... or some other war/drug fueled place... yes usa has alot to do with those issues.... but thats for another time hope you have a good day =)

My grandparents were Canadian and moved to the states in the 20s. I would not be surprised if my mother's cousins and their children knew "In Flanders Field" as we knew the Pledge of Allegiance.

There are more than a few great war poets that deserve reading, including Seigfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke and Winfield Owen...

@@orno8906 Sassoon wrote some very angry poems about the British press and politicians.