As the Stars are Known to the Night

| November 11, 2019

Remembrance I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. Augustine Mandino II (Author and WWII USAAF B-24 Bombardier) This one night, seemingly so long ago, I lie awake looking from the window of our Brandhoek stay. The view is the […]

John Macnaughton’s Walk

| November 10, 2019

One Day Soon… There is another place to visit, following in the footsteps of Professor John Macnaughton’s walk to his son’s grave at Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Found within the pages of the Canada Illustrated Weekly, a letter of thanks to St. Barnabas Hostels, a brief note of gratitude…. Will you kindly allow […]

NOT JUST A NAME

| November 9, 2019

The Soldier While taking part in operations with his company, of the 14th Canadian Infantry Battalion, in the trenches south of Zillebeke, Montreal-born Private James Duncan Montgomery MacGillivray, age 41, was killed at 7:25 PM on 25 April 1916. Next-of-Kin As I search through James MacGillivray’s service record I learn from his attestation papers that […]

Here Be Dragons

| November 8, 2019

Unsure of our bearings we rode… Observing the horizon I watch familiar church towers on the horizon drift back and forth in perspective. Distant…closer…always to our right or soon to be on our right. The roads meander here amongst the fields of battle and bounty. At times and without warning (no orange pylons here) the […]

From Here the Invader…

| November 7, 2019

Bornes du Front, Demarcatiepalen, Demarcation Stone On occasion, while wandering the hurt landscapes of France and Flanders the visitor will happen upon one of French sculptor, Paul Moreau-Vautheir’s demarcation stones introduced to this fractured landscape in 1921. Dotted intermittently along significant sites of the Western Front in France and Belgium, the stones are known to […]