WASHINGTON, D.C.—You don’t see a lot of poppies in Washington at this time of year. The Canadian Embassy has them available, but wearing the red flower in your lapel isn’t a November tradition for Americans (National Poppy Day here is in May). But on the eve of Remembrance Day — observed here as Veterans Day — a few dozen teenagers and adults with red felt poppies pinned above their breasts passed together near the monuments marking the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger inside the sprawling grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The group from Waterloo Collegiate Institute paused briefly at the spot memorializing the astronauts, but paid more reverent attention to a nearby speckled granite cross with a sword embedded in it rising from the neat rows of white marble tombstones in the green grass.This monument, a teacher leading the group explained, is the Canadian Cross of Sacrifice, carved from Canadian rock and erected by the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King to honour the Americans who fought — and sometimes died — in the service of the Canadian military. There are inscriptions on its base recognizing those who lost their lives in The Great War, the Second World War and the Korean campaign. As the teacher explained, Canada entered both world wars years before the U.S. did, and many Americans crossed the border to fight on Canada’s behalf. Writing last year in the Windsor Star, Canadian veteran Bruce Moncur said an estimated 40,000 Americans — 10 per cent of Canada’s expeditionary force — fought for Canada in the First World War, while another 10,000 enlisted in the army and 1,200 served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. The “hallowed ground” of Arlington is the final resting place of more than 400,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines — including two presidents — and their family members. Its acres-upon-acres of white mar ...
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