Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Stumbling over history ...

Today the Rotary club of which I am proudly a member held its meeting out in the Officers' Mess at CFB Shilo. Following the tour of the facilities utilized by the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, we were given a fine lunch in the Officers' Mess, where we encountered to astounding pieces of Canadian History (amongst MANY spread throughout CFB Shilo).

The first was the 300+ year old table that carried the body of General James Wolfe back to England following his death from wounds received on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

Originally a table on a British Warship, it would be transferred to the Citadel in Quebec following the ship's return to North America in 1860, and the table would remain in the possession of the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery since their formation in 1871.

The other piece of Canadiana was a copy of Lt. Colonel John McRae's somewhat well known poem - "In Flanders Fields" that was penned in battle in 1915, and published in Punch along with drawings by McRae's friend "Dinky" Morrison. The framed picture of the drawings and the poem hangs on the wall of the Officers' Mess just outside the room housing General Wolfe's table ...
Both serve as a reminder that our history as a people and a nation has never been far removed from the battles that have been fought and won by our troops. Troops who have, since the founding of Canada, come from small rural communities who sent their young men and women to serve, and many of them paid the ultimate sacrifice ...

Lest We Forget.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

did you know that my parents were at cfb shilo on new years eve 1967..and well had lots of fun eating and drinking etc..and guess what i was born 9 months later! so i have always had a place in my heart for this place.
thanks for the pics..now i know what it looks like.
peace,
wendy