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War hero nurse Edith Cavell's connection to Alberta Nurse Edith Cavell during her lifetime didn't actually have a connection with Alberta, but her courageous work during the Great War and her death by firing squad, moved thousands of people around the world. Edith Cavell was the Matron of the Surgical Institute of Brussels when the Great War began. In the first year of the war she treated patients from both sides of the conflict--German, as well as Belgian and French. The fall of Brussels was looming but she refused to leave her work and her patients, so continued to admit all the wounded. In August of 1915, she was arrested and accused of helping "prisoners", the English, French or Belgians now in occupied Belgium, to escape across the border to freedom. She refused to lie on her own behalf and so admitted her "guilt". She was executed by firing squad in October of the same year. A beautiful mountain near Jasper was named Mount Edith Cavell in her honour, and a nearby lake became "Lake of Forgiveness" in commemoration of her last words, forgiving the commander of the execution squad. Another peak was named Mount Sorrow. A memorial service is held each year in the Anglican Church in Jasper. |
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