Remembrance Day at John McCrae

Remembrance Day is an important day that takes place on the 11th of November every year. We honour the armed forces members who died in the line of duty in World War One, along with the brave veterans to come out of it. We pay our respects and honour the fallen of WWI by having a moment of silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (11:00 am, November 11). It’s important to remember the past, and remember the sacrifices that these brave soldiers made to ensure our happiness and safety today.

John McCrae Secondary School knows how important it is to honour and remember those who lost their lives in the war. The school’s namesake is a famous war medic and poet, after all. A Remembrance Day ceremony is held every year at JMSS, organized by staff and students together. This year, JMSS hosted a virtual ceremony that was viewed by students in their classrooms. The main organizer of the ceremony is Mr. Box, a teacher at JMSS.

Mr. Box has quite the experience with organizing the Remembrance Day Ceremony at John McCrae since he has led the preparations since 2007. It can take around two to three weeks to fully prepare for the ceremony, as the process requires things such as filming student recordings and inviting guest speakers.

This year’s virtual ceremony featured McCrae’s graduating class reading poems and letters that were written by students in Writer's Craft. They had the task of writing a letter from the point of view of someone experiencing WWI or WWII. expressing the importance of Remembrance Day. Many students lended their musical talents for the ceremony, playing important songs related to the theme of war and historically are associated with World War One. Chief Warrant Officer and retired Legion Branch 641 president Stefan Gee read out John McCrae’s act of remembrance, and paid tribute on our school grounds.

The tradition of Remembrance continues at JMSS despite the barrier of virtual ceremonies. Together, we observed a moment of silence to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the courage of those who serve today.

Every year, JMSS also holds a community ceremony that is organized by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 641. Apart from the Legion members, their families, and the seniors of John McCrae, many members of the Barrhaven community gathered on our campus to remember and honour soldiers, veterans, and other military personnel.

The graduating class of John McCrae had an especially important role in this year’s community Remembrance Day ceremony. One of John McCrae’s most well-known traditions is the laying of handmade ceramic poppies by the graduating class. This tradition was inspired by Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, a public art installation created in the moat of the Tower of London, England, in 2014. Each ceramic poppy laid in the moat represented an allied military fatality from World War I. In total, 888,245 poppies were laid. While John McCrae students did not lay nearly as many poppies, around a hundred ceramic poppies, made by previous students, were placed around the Cenotaph. Every student had the opportunity to hold and place one or two poppies, which allowed them to make a personal connection to the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers.

John McCrae seniors also got to watch the community ceremony, but because of COVID-19, were not permitted to play as big of a role as usual. However, seniors Mason Craig and Clara Thomas read “In Flanders Fields” in English and French, respectively, honoring our school’s namesake, John McCrae. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was a Canadian poet, physician, author, and artist, who served as a soldier during World War I and surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. The day before he was to write his famous poem, his close friend was killed and buried in a makeshift grave, adorned with a simple wooden cross. McCrae was deeply affected by his friend’s death, and wrote a poem entitled “In Flanders Fields”. John McCrae died of pneumonia and meningitis on January 28, 1918, in Boulogne-sur-mer, France, but his poem quickly gained popularity across Canada and around the world. Today, it is read at Remembrance Day ceremonies, used in advertisements, and even inspired many countries to adopt the poppy as the Flower of Remembrance for the war dead of Britain, Canada, and many other Commonwealth countries.

As John McCrae students were not able to participate in the Legion’s ceremony last year, many JMSS students, teachers, and staff were grateful for the opportunity to attend this ceremony once again and join our community in remembering and honouring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country’s freedom.