Edith Cavell Death centennial

Yesterday was the 100th Anniversary of the execution of an accomplished, intelligent, brave and compassionate woman.

There is a long granite wall along what was once a main road into Seattle. On it are the names of American soldiers who fell in WWI, but if you look closely among the alphabetically listed names you’ll find the name “Cavell, Edith”.

After the Great War, a road of remembrance was dedicated to our local fallen. The idea was that people would purchase an elm tree in remembrance of their loved one, and these would be planted every sixty feet along each side of the roadway. The trees would eventually form a canopy over what was a lovely red brick roadway through the countryside.

Most trees were planted for local fallen, but there was no rule about it, so there were trees planted by local soldiers in memory of fallen comrades from elsewhere. One woman from Oregon was moved to purchase a tree in memory of Edith Cavell, a British nurse who was shot by the Germans on October 12th, 1915.

There were once 1,400 trees along the roadway. A small number considering allied casualties of WWI, but a significant number for our little region. Eventually the trees fell victim to disease, urbanization, road widening, etc. There are now less than a dozen remaining. By the 1960s, to commemorate the trees that were being lost and perpetuate their memorial purpose, a granite wall was built, listing the names of individuals for whom the trees had been dedicated.

Many months ago, I proposed the first of our local WWI centennial events: a service at the memorial in remembrance of the first individual listed on it who gave her life – Edith Cavell. Of course when something like that is proposed, the person proposing it ends up in charge of the whole thing.

For years, an American Legion honor guard posted the Stars & Stripes at the wall each Memorial Day. Yesterday, The American flag flew side by side with the Union Jack. The crowd listened intently to my 18 minute oration on the life of Edith Cavell. I’m told some of the elderly ladies shed tears at the end.

Usually on Memorial Days the Legion plays the National Anthem after laying a wreath at the center of the wall. This time, the wreath was placed under Edith Cavell’s name, and I announced, “In lieu of our National Anthem, in honor of Edith Cavell’s patriotism and service to her own country, we will play a melody that most of you will recognize as ‘My Country tis of Thee’, but that Edith Cavell would have recognized as ‘God Save the King’.”

I’m happy to say the crowd stood as straight and respectfully as if it had been our own anthem.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Edith Cavell, here is a good
summary:

https://revdc.wordpress.com/edith-cavells-life

The event took up all my time this weekend. I’ll be back at my regular postings next weekend.