The Accidental Participant It is a cold grey morning in Montreal. The Quad at McGill University, filled with historical and relevant buildings, resonates with the activities of the students beginning their day. My guide is a young woman, a student at McGill University and a very dear friend. We are on our way to the bookstore prior to her first class of the day. We turn a corner and suddenly I am facing a military formation, an artillery battery, soldiers in their dress uniforms and flags at half staff, all spread across the University’s quad. It is 11:00 a.m. and I remember - it is the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month. It is Remembrance Day, Canadas Veterans Day. Remembrance Day marks the end of the Great War, World War I - November 11th, 1918, ninety five years ago today. But this moment means even more than that now in Canada. As the soldiers come to attention and the flags flutter at half staff and float in the cold Canadian air, we hear the strains of a lone bugler. The overcast skies obscure a flyover of Canadian jet fighters. Their loud engines find me. Not lost in this moment is the absence of their image, like the fallen soldiers honored here. I hear the strains of the Canadian national anthem while my gaze is transfixed on the soldiers loading the large canons. Across from the guns, old and young soldiers stand at attention. With many generations represented along with the uniforms of the many services, the distinctive red uniforms of the Royal Mounted Police catch my eyes. The Maple Leaf flag seems to open in the breeze as the last bars of the anthem is played. The battery commander brings his Charges to notice as a gun is loaded and a thunderous crash follows a reminder of the incredible power of these destructive devices. The flash and noise grab my attention as I anticipate another volley from one of the other four guns. Yet, silently the gunpowder smoke floats over the heads of the soldiers standing at attention, stone faced not moving, in a tribute to those who have given so much. The sound of a lone bagpiper echoes through the city streets with the lament for the fallen. Its singular touching refrain serves as a historical marker of Canadas English, Scottish and Irish decedents. I listen with tears and awe, thinking of my descendents, one of which gave his life for King and Country in the Great War. As a soldier in the Canadian Army, Morton Ross McNutt gave the last measure of his life when he was killed at Vimy Ridge, France on the Western Front in the spring of 1917. Nearly a century has passed and I, an accidental participant, bear witness as his representative. It is altogether fitting and proper that his life and sacrifice are remembered here on this day. The piper ends his lament. With a thunderous crash, the guns fire their final salute in tribute to those who have fallen. The overpowering noise brings cries from little children, a reminder of lives yet lived. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 2013 I found myself in the Canadian city of Montreal. I journeyed here to share in the experience of my young friend’s life. Fate and nothing else has brought me here to know what is - and remember what was. I walk though the brisk Canadian air and stop as the Red Cross offers hot coffee and donuts to the men both young and old who serve and have served a nation with gallantry, devotion and distinction. The final act of this event unfolds before me as I leave the college quad. I see the peaceful passing between those there to protest war - all wars, and those who served a nation in a time of war. Not a word is exchanged. A protester holds a sign, Remember the Victims of All Wars. Yes I think, I have remembered a victim, a soldier, my great grandfather. Through an accidental meeting nearly 100 years in the making, the life and sacrifice of volunteer Morton Ross McNutt of the 8th Manitoba Regiment, killed in action, April 28th, 1917 was remembered, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Amelia McNutt November 11, 2013
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 22:16:22 +0000
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