Metropolitan Remembers

A famous statue commemorating the fallen of World War I is in Vladslo German Military Cemetery, Flanders. German sculptor Kathe Kollwitz lost her son Peter in the conflict. She wrote, “There is in our lives a wound which will never heal. Nor should it”.

Metropolitan remembers. We remember those who came before us who served, and those who did not return.

No one leaving the main floor through the north doors can miss two plaques on the wall. These plaques were installed “in honour and loving memory of those who so nobly served”. The west plaque recognizes those members who served in World War I; the east plaque, those who served in World War II. Both plaques present a place of honour at their centres for those who are “our heroic dead”.

Lesser known tributes are two, framed certificates near the west Eccles Chapel. Metropolitan boasts two works of the Group of Seven, as the calligraphy of these certificates is of AJ Casson. They list those who volunteered to serve King and Country in the Second World War, one recognizing members of Metropolitan, and the other, those members of the Metropolitan Young People’s Union, including five women. The Union was active from the 1920’s until 1964, organizing opportunities to worship and socialize for working young adults, and some students.

Two memorials are personal. A window in the east gallery displays the symbol of the Royal Canadian Air Force and commemorates the loss of Reginald Sanborn, flying with the RAF in World War I. In the north-east entrance is a plaque recognizing Lt Eric Ziegler, who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and died in Flanders in 1916.

We will remember, lest we forget.

-RW