About
Reflecting on D-Day
Last weekend was so exciting with the Provincial finals for Boys Rugby and the CSSRA Rowing Championship at St. Catharines. Heartfelt congratulations to players and coaches alike. You wore black and gold with pride and distinction.
At the latter, I joined staff and parents at the grandstand overlooking the final 250 metres, and watched some thrillingly tight finishes.
Between the car park and the grandstand, I noticed a granite monument towering above me – a statue of an unknown soldier representing Canadian fallen in the two great wars, in Korea and, more recently, in Afghanistan.
As many of you will know, Thursday was a landmark in Canadian history – with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings of 1944.
Today is a landmark in Shawnigan history.
A Shawnigan alumnus, a lieutenant in an infantry regiment, along with 14,000 fellow Canadian troops, landed on Juno Beach in France as part of a joint Canadian, British, and American initiative to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious landing in history with the Allied troops tasked to break through a coastline fortified with mined obstacles, concrete pillboxes, machine-gun nests, and heavy artillery.
Subterfuge attempted to conceal the precise point of invasion – but nevertheless, the allied forces met fierce resistance.
The Shawnigan alumnus, Lieutenant William Stewart Ferguson, was a School Prefect and played in the 1st XI soccer team and, to my delight, the 1st XI cricket team – and in 1926 won the now decommissioned ‘Good Losers Cup’ in boxing for a student who had fought valiantly and lost.
75 years ago to this day – 8th June 1944 – Ferguson and other members of his regiment were captured and taken to a local chateau which was serving as the military base for an SS Panzer (tank) division.
150 Canadians were marched into the grounds of the chateau and were executed by a team of Hitler Youth.
William Ferguson was one of those prisoners.
In fact, Ferguson is reported to have walked forward towards his captors to reason with them on behalf of his men when he was cut down by machine gun fire. His act of courage enabled some soldiers to escape across a grain field – and one of them gave evidence of his courage in the war crimes trials to follow.
Another report tells of two brothers facing the firing squads at the chateau with George Meakin stepping in front of his brother Frank to take the full force of the fire – an act of unqualified selflessness. Neither survived the executioners.
Indeed, senseless atrocities were committed throughout the war with all countries complicit in the madness of it all.
In 2017, a Shawnigan group visited the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars and visited the grave of Lieutenant Ferguson. They poignantly laid a folded Shawnigan flag on top of his headstone in the Commonwealth cemetery and paid their respects.
Carved into the headstone is the maple leaf and, at the bottom and at the request of his family;
Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat.
Our motto.
I find it deeply touching that ‘there is a corner of a foreign field that is forever’ Shawnigan – and that his family chose our motto for the gravestone.
I have spoken before in Chapel about the 3 Cs of Shawnigan – Conversation, Compassion and Community - and the 4th pillar of Courage.
The Canadian Mint has just released a Proof Silver Dollar to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, with the design putting a human face on a historic event. Inspired by a real-life moment seen in the original black and white film footage, an infantry soldier has a strained expression on his face as he prepares to disembark from the landing craft onto the beach ahead, in his first real combat experience. A reassuring pat on the shoulder from a fellow soldier is a touching moment of humanity and a gesture of solidarity amid enemy fire and fear, while the wedding ring on the hand of the fellow soldier serves as a reminder of loved ones back home.
The coin speaks to courage and compassion.
A former Chair of our Board, Bob Murdoch, and his family (including a number of Shawnigan alumni) attended a service in the Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian cemetery on Thursday and laid flowers on behalf of the school on Ferguson’s grave.
At the bottom of the statue of the unknown soldier I came across at St. Catharines last weekend, the following message is carved:
‘Greater love hath no [person] than this: that a [person] lays down their life for their friends.’
Given your love of your friends and our community here at Shawnigan, you will understand the significance of this inscription.
It is important that we continue to speak of the unspeakable - his story will not be forgotten by us - nor remain untold. And we must continue to call attention to inhumanity wherever it exists.
I would like to finish by inviting Josh Wheeler, a member of the trip to France, to come and lay the Shawnigan flag on the altar in honour of Lieutenant Ferguson who fell in the service of Canada and his men. Josh will then read Meditation XVII by the poet John Donne and published in 1624 – it is framed in Mr. Dukelow’s office and is his favourite literary extract. It speaks to partnership, friendship and that when we lose someone from our community (past and present), a little bit of us, a little bit of our individual and collective soul, is washed away too.
As John Donne says, ‘Every man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind’.
Richard D A Lamont
8th June 2019
'No Man is an Island'
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Olde English Version
No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man
is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe
is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as
well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine
owne were; any mans death diminishes me,
because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
