Memorial Day 2025
“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.”
~Lt-Col John McCrae, 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery
Sorry for being absent these last few days. Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.
Ian
𝐈𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩
In ocean wastes no poppies blow,
No crosses stand in ordered row,
There young hearts sleep… beneath the wave…
The spirited, the good, the brave,
But stars a constant vigil keep,
For them who lie beneath the deep.
‘Tis true you cannot kneel in prayer
On certain spot and think. “He’s there.”
But you can to the ocean go…
See whitecaps marching row on row;
Know one for him will always ride…
In and out… with every tide.
And when your span of life is passed,
He’ll meet you at the “Captain’s Mast.”
And they who mourn on distant shore
For sailors who’ll come home no more,
Can dry their tears and pray for these
Who rest beneath the heaving seas…
For stars that shine and winds that blow
And whitecaps marching row on row.
And they can never lonely be
For when they lived… they chose the sea.
𝘣𝘺 𝘌𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺
Ian - While America suffered casualties in WWI, they did not suffer the enormous casualties suffered in Europe - a whole generation lost in the trenches. While growing up in the UK, I can remember seeing entire classes of our school draped in black bunting, lost in the war. The 'Pals Battalions' (units raised from whole neighborhoods) killed off huge swaths of men from London, Birmingham and Manchester, etc. The streets in my village were named after WWI battles: Ypres, Black Woods, Arras, Somme, etc. It was murder on an industrial scale. Lest We Forget!