I believe that grace is to honour, and give credit, by one’s presence.
Many thought of Talbot Papineau as a future prime minister. He received the Military Cross for his actions at Saint-Éloi in 1915, and then became a staff officer. In 1917, he left the security of this position to return to command a company of his regiment. Papineau was from one of Quebec’s best-known families. Yet the battlefield granted no immunity. “You know Hughie, this is suicide,” he uttered to a fellow officer moments before he was killed by a shell. He was one of 4,000 Canadian soldiers who died during the Battle of Passchendaele.
– Viveka Melki
Press on the pictures below to show content:
Optical crystal
“Men in their thousands marched to war, a world war no one could have imagined, the rose a reminder that life and beauty do prevail.”
– Mark Raynes Roberts
Olfactory memory
“While the sun is rising in the sky, a proud and enchanting rose leaves a strong fragrance of patriotism.”
– Alexandra Bachand
Talbot Papineau (1883-1917)
“Papineau rose to prominence off the battlefield for taking on Le Devoir editorialist Henri Bourassa in a very public dispute over Canada’s involvement in the war. In an open letter published in August 1916, Papineau called on Bourassa to moderate his opposition to Canada’s participation in the war and to accept his position that Canada had no choice but to join the war at the side of Britain.”
– Alexander Reford