A year ago I made this post on the Soapbox. It can certainly never grow to old to read again. I have added the following song and I believe the author/singer is Terri Kelly.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.”
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it highIf ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
Major John McCrae, MDCanadian ArmyAt the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. (Later to be known as WWI)Germany, destitute of resources and manpower, knowing invasion of the homeland was eminent, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car near Compiegne, France. Word spread quickly and the great battlefronts grew quiet. At the appointed hour cheers rose from the trenches on both sides and the former foes joined one another in celebration.
The poem “In Flanders Fields”, written by Major John McCrae, a surgeon of the Canadian Army. Major McCrae wrote the poem after he lost his dear friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer in battle on May 2, 1915.
The day after his friend was buried Major McCrae penned his now famous poem while musing Lt. Helmers death and watching wild poppies sway in the wind at the cemetery where he was buried. McCrae initially tossed the poem away but a fellow officer retrieved it and it was published by “Punch” newspaper in England in 1915.
On June 4th, 1926 a resolution by congress officially designated November 11th as “Armistice Day” in remembrance of the end of the war. Congress approved an act on June 1st, 1954 to change the name to “Veterans Day” in order to honor all Veterans of the U.S. armed services. In Canada November 11th is known as “Remembrance Day” in honor of their veterans.
God bless all of those who have served and died to keep us free.
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1 comment:
I cherish the song "A Pittance of Time". I wish everyone in this United States could hear it and know the meaning behind it. Thanks for posting this message on this Holiday. Veterans Day does not seem to hold the reverence that it once did. New generations, new priorities, Old rememberances dying with those that remember the Great Wars.
JPH
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