Memorial Day

[Red Leg]

In Flanders Fields​

BY JOHN MCCRAE

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, fly
Scarce 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 high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


To absent comrades - wherever they may lie.

 

[Newboomer]

In Flanders Fields​

BY JOHN MCCRAE

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, fly
Scarce 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 high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


To absent comrades - wherever they may lie.

All gave some. Some gave all. May they never be forgotton.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

God bless our veterans.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Thank you for that Red Leg, sincerely. I read that as a part of the Refuge weekly radio program today.

For those who might not know Lieutenant colonel McCrae died in WWI a few years after authoring that poem.

Here's wishing everyone a safe Memorial Day weekend. I try to always remember dedicated people died for the freedoms I have. Never, ever take anything for granted.

 

[JPetroni]

Thank you to all those Veterans that keep us Safe and Free, a debt we can never repay.

JP

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Thank God for the USA, without your mighty right many tyrants would have prevailed.

 

[yhc]

Lest We Forget!!

 

[willbaforce]

We don’t appreciate them enough.

 

[mark-hunter]

1915, Ypres, John McCrae...

It is shame we so often forget our fallen heroes, till the next war.
Thank you red leg, for reminding us.

 

[sgt_zim]

The Dutch still remember, and commemorate Market Garden every Fall.

Hard for me to watch this and not get teary-eyed. This was recorded 14 or 15 years ago. She's now in her late 20s

 

[Red Leg]

1915, Ypres, John McCrae...

It is shame we so often forget our fallen heroes, till the next war.
Thank you red leg, for reminding us.

His biography is worth looking up. He was Canadian, and served as a doctor through the First World War. As you note, the horrific casualties at the battle of Ypres (a harbinger of far worse to come at the Somme and Verdun) were the motivation for the poem. He too died on the Western Front in January 1918 from pneumonia (often fatal in the age before antibiotics). He was 45.

 

[WAB]

1915, Ypres, John McCrae...

It is shame we so often forget our fallen heroes, till the next war.
Thank you red leg, for reminding us.

My great uncle was in that fight. A proud memory for Canadians.

 

[DmacD]

His biography is worth looking up. He was Canadian, and served as a doctor through the First World War. As you note, the horrific casualties at the battle of Ypres (a harbinger of far worse to come at the Somme and Verdun) were the motivation for the poem. He too died on the Western Front in January 1918 from pneumonia (often fatal in the age before antibiotics). He was 45.

That poem gets me, every time.
Hearing that poem was part of the reason for visiting the monuments at Vimy Ridge while in Europe a few years ago. It, or any of the Allied war cemeteries spread throughout the world make for an interesting bit of reflection.

 

[SaintPanzer]

If you are able,
Save for them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.

Take what they have left
and what they have taught you,
with their dying
and keep it with your own.

And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
United States Army
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam

 

[Newboomer]

If you are able,
Save for them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.

Take what they have left
and what they have taught you,
with their dying
and keep it with your own.

And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

So many stories, so many heros, so much tragedy, SO LITTLE RECOGNITION.

 

[Hogpatrol]

As my uncle, a Battle of the Bulge wounded vet used to say "They answered the last bugle call".
Never forgotten from this quarter.

 

[Rick HOlbert]

In Flanders Fields​

BY JOHN MCCRAE

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, fly
Scarce 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 high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


To absent comrades - wherever they may lie.

Redleg thanks for posting that. I use this time to remember the team mates I had that didn't make it home. I'll find a quiet place, and hoist one in their honor. Miss you guys.

 

[Rob404]

The Chaska Fire Dept

 

[TheGrayRider]

My grandfather, 9 generations past, who fought in the Revolution with the South Carolina Militia under General Francis Marion, “the Swamp Fox.” God continue to bless America.