Prospect Cemetery Before Remembrance Day

First, I hope everyone is having a thoughtful Remembrance Day 2018, the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. People from around the world are taking the day to honour the fallen and the veterans of various wars, including (but not limited to) World War I, World II, the Korean War and the Afghanistan conflict.

In Toronto, Prospect Cemetery at St. Clair Avenue West and Lansdowne Avenue is home to the final resting places of approximately 5,300 World War I veterans. Fittingly, it hosts the Sunrise Ceremony every year on November 11 at 8:00AM. It has done so every year since 1928, the tenth anniversary of the 1918 armistice, when World War I was a fresh memory.

Breakfast Television Toronto broadcast this morning's ceremony: https://www.bttoronto.ca/videos/2827621716001/

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This is also a time to reflect on the fact that Prospect Cemetery's various memorials, as well as the five acres of veterans' plots, are not Remembrance Day props. They are not assembled on the night of November 10 and then disassembled every November 11 at noon.

I visited Prospect Cemetery on October 29 with my faithful canine companion, Ory. Here is a small sampling of what we saw:

The south entrance on St. Clair Avenue West.

A map of major Canadian engagements during World War I.

Background: the tank memorial.

A circle of plots at the north end of the cemetery.

The cemetery's smaller north entrance at Eglinton Avenue West.

Let us commemorate this Remembrance Day and then never forget.