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To participate in our Virtual Walk in support of our veterans and troups. both past
and present click here |
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In
wartime, St. John and the Red Cross worked together to meet a huge range of medical
and welfare needs.
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Hills are for heroes
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During the Crimean War
in the 1850s, newspapers began to carry graphic reports of the battlefield carnage.
The public was confronted with the harsh reality that wounded soldiers were left
to suffer and die, and the International Red Cross Movement grew out of the resulting
outrage. Volunteer members of the British Order of St. John responded and
took great personal risks to bring First Aid and ambulance transport to battlefields
in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The original purpose of First Aid was to help wounded soldiers, and from the outset,
St. John Ambulance aimed to provide trained reserves for Army hospitals. Its first
official role was in the South African (or Boer War), 1899-1902, when nearly a quarter
of the Army Medical Service in South Africa were St. John reserves.
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In World War One, 1914-18, new technologies brought slaughter on a previously unknown
scale. Aircraft, tanks, gas and machine guns changed the nature of battlefields and far greater numbers of men were needed to fight. This meant almost everyone
in Britain personally knew a soldier and there was a huge response to appeals for
volunteers to help care for the wounded and dying. An extensive system of
medical services and hospitals was put in place, at the front, behind the lines
and back in Britain, and much of it was run by the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John. |
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In World War Two, 1939-45, civilians as well as fighting forces were targeted, particularly
from the air. Again St. John and the Red Cross worked together to meet wartime
medical and welfare needs on the home front and overseas. St. John’s roles
included; organising the national anti-gas training programme; running First Aid
posts in London’s tube stations during the Blitz; assisting prisoners of war; providing
medical reserves and volunteer nurses to serve with the forces, and many more. |
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As recently as in the Gulf War of 2003, St. John welfare workers were sent to the
front to give humanitarian assistance.
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Our proud and
long tradition at St. John Ambulance is one of serving others for the greater good.
Throughout our history, we have always been there in support our troops. Beginning
today, on the 11th hour, of the 11th day on the 11th
month of 2007 and here on after, we offer you the opportunity of supporting our
Canadian Military through our “They Fought For US! .We Will Walk For Them” program.
A Virtual Walk experience throughout Canada and a small piece of
our military history.
No one should
ever forget the past or how we arrived at where we are and all that we have today.
We must honor our veterans who fought bravely and valiantly for the freedoms we
all now cherish and enjoy. Every pleasure we know in life was afforded us by a very
special group of men and women who sacrificed so much in World War One, World War
Two, Korea and now in Afghanistan so we may live our lives in freedom. Freedom to
choose and freedom to express ourselves as we live in peace. There can be no greater
giving than that of a human being sacrificing ones own life to the benefit of others
such as ourselves.
During World
War One, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae heroically served as a surgeon of the Canadian
Forces Artillery. With the introduction of poison gas by the enemy, John McCrae
worked seventeen straight days and nights without ever stopping to even change his
clothes along with others as dead and wounded actually rolled down the banks from
above into their dug out. McCrae wrote home. “We are weary in body and ever weary
of mind. The general impression of mind is one of nightmare.”
As you read
John McCrae’s poem below “In Flanders Fields”. We sincerely hope you will reflect
on the joys and happiness of generations
of your family and all that you have then generously support our Veterans both past
and present.
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In Flanders Fields |
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by John McCrae
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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.
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In Flander’s Fields |
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by Edna Jaques, 1918 |
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We have kept the faith,
ye Flanders' dead
Sleep well beneath those poppies red
That mark your place.
The torch your dying hands did throw
We've held it high before the foe
And answered bitter blow for blow
In Flanders' fields.
And where your heroes' blood
was spilled
The guns are now forever stilled
And silent grown.
There is no moaning of the slain
There is no cry of tortured pain
And blood will never flow gain
In Flanders' fields.
Forever holy in our sight
Shall be those crosses gleaming white
That guard your sleep
Rest you in peace, the task is done
The fight you left us we have won
And peace on Earth has just begun
In Flanders' fields now.
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