Symbols and ceremonies around the world are meant to mark the moment that peace was declared to end World War One, and to commemorate the lives lost in wars. As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, Avonlea’s own R.H. Thomson is working on a very special memorial for the 100th anniversary of World War One.

This First World War reached the people of Avonlea, as we see in An Avonlea Christmas, when Felix King is fighting overseas. Cecily King receives the alarming news by telegram, and she must tell their mother that “Felix is listed…as missing in action.” The scenes of battles in Europe are contrasted in this film with the idyllic life of Avonlea, and Felix is on everyone’s mind as the King family prepares to celebrate the holidays together.

John McCrae, a Canadian doctor who fought as a soldier in the First World War and died in action in January, 1918, is the author of one of the best-known war poems: In Flanders Fields. This poem is often featured in Remembrance Day ceremonies, along with a moment of silence to mark the peace that came at 11am, on November 11th, 1918.

In Flanders Fields
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.

John McCrae
Punch, Dec. 8, 1915

Poem courtesy of The McCrae House, www.guelpharts.ca