At Home in Hespeler

Fifteen year old Johnny Bower lied about his age to join the Canadian Army in 1940. “I had to,” he says. “All my buddies where there.” He was called up by the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and shipped to England, where he spent the war until discharged in 1944. Last night, the last goalie to win the Stanley Cup as a Toronto Maple Leaf (along with legend Terry Sawchuck), recited Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields during a pre-game ceremony at the Air Canada Centre.

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.

Remembrance Johnny Bower, Nov 11, Toronto Maple Leafs, WWII