Veteran's Day has come and gone...but our Fighters continue their service to this nation. As this past weekend stretched into the "Monday Holiday" the sacrifices of our brave men and women were always in my thoughts. Sometimes obvious, sometimes thoughts just out of focus, but I remembered their sacrifices. Not personally, of course, because I have never been present at any combat engagement, but still I thought about what it must have been like, the horrors of war, the camaraderie built and shared by those brave men and women, and terrible losses they shared when their friends were killed or maimed, or even when they themselves were wounded.
Unfortunately war has been a necessary evil in this human world of ours. For instance, our great, though lately floundering, nation was borne out of the blood shed by our ancestors who sought freedom from Great Britain. For all the negative things that could have been said about the United States that arose out of the ashes of the War For Independence, it was the new America, and the sacrifices of American veterans, that made victory possible in both World War I and World War II. Americans have fought and died for their nation since 1776. Today we find our nation involved in a different kind of war, one in which the foe is nameless and faceless, yet the sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces are just as great, and just as sacred. Whether or not we agree with the politics of this new warfare, we cannot help but be proud of our soldiers, to support them, to cry for them and with them, and to thank them for their service to this nation.
One of the first times in my life that I can recall being cognizant of the great sacrifice made by our veterans was the time I read the following poem. I believe this poem was assigned reading in one of my high school English classes. I can recall to this very day how at first I did not want to read this short poem, how boring I thought the assignment was. But I have to say that in the more than thirty years since I first read this poem, its words are just as haunting, just as poignant now as in those three decades past.
Here is the poem:
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
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.
RIP all you brave men.
This very short poem says so much in just a few lines. Colonel McCrae wrote this poem after having served over a year in Flanders fields. Unfortunately, the spark of inspiration that caused him to pen these now most famous words was the death of his fellow soldier and former student, Alexis Helmer. The Germans at this time unleashed a terrible weapon on the Allied soldiers at Flanders, a chemical called mustard gas. Thousands of soldiers, including Helmer, were killed or severely injured by this and other chemical weapons employed by the Germans. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, as you can see from his biographical information above, did himself not survive World War I. Colonel McCrae succumbed to asthma and pneumonia while still in the fields of battle, his illness no doubt brought on by his fatigue and weariness at seeing all the death and destruction wrought by "the War to End All Wars."
At the time that McCrae wrote this poem, there were few Americans, if any, serving in Europe, because the United States had not officially entered the war. But British and French forces were made up, not only of those nations' fighting men, but of men from throughout the British and French Empires. The haunting yet beautiful part, aside from the poem itself, is that poppies bloom every year among the thousands of crosses that mark the final resting place of these brave soldiers. It is almost as if the very ground where these men died is seeking to comfort them and look over their rest.
Veterans Day of course is meant to honor our soldiers who fought and survived the several wars our nation has seen since the American Revolution, yet it is almost impossible to remember and to honor our living veterans without thinking of those who fought and died. But I nonetheless am proud to honor our veterans in my blog, to thank them, and to remember that because of these people, and all who served in our armed forces over the years, Americans are a free people. I am proud to says that I owe my life and my freedom to these, our veterans, for without these people and their service to our nation, I would not have the freedom that I share with all Americans today. Without the sacrifice and service of our veterans, I would not be free to write these simple and inadequate words of thanks on a forum that potentially can be seen nation-wide.
God Bless America, and God Bless our Veterans. Thank you, Veterans, for your unselfish service to our great nation.
Unfortunately war has been a necessary evil in this human world of ours. For instance, our great, though lately floundering, nation was borne out of the blood shed by our ancestors who sought freedom from Great Britain. For all the negative things that could have been said about the United States that arose out of the ashes of the War For Independence, it was the new America, and the sacrifices of American veterans, that made victory possible in both World War I and World War II. Americans have fought and died for their nation since 1776. Today we find our nation involved in a different kind of war, one in which the foe is nameless and faceless, yet the sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces are just as great, and just as sacred. Whether or not we agree with the politics of this new warfare, we cannot help but be proud of our soldiers, to support them, to cry for them and with them, and to thank them for their service to this nation.
One of the first times in my life that I can recall being cognizant of the great sacrifice made by our veterans was the time I read the following poem. I believe this poem was assigned reading in one of my high school English classes. I can recall to this very day how at first I did not want to read this short poem, how boring I thought the assignment was. But I have to say that in the more than thirty years since I first read this poem, its words are just as haunting, just as poignant now as in those three decades past.
Here is the poem:
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
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.
RIP all you brave men.
This very short poem says so much in just a few lines. Colonel McCrae wrote this poem after having served over a year in Flanders fields. Unfortunately, the spark of inspiration that caused him to pen these now most famous words was the death of his fellow soldier and former student, Alexis Helmer. The Germans at this time unleashed a terrible weapon on the Allied soldiers at Flanders, a chemical called mustard gas. Thousands of soldiers, including Helmer, were killed or severely injured by this and other chemical weapons employed by the Germans. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, as you can see from his biographical information above, did himself not survive World War I. Colonel McCrae succumbed to asthma and pneumonia while still in the fields of battle, his illness no doubt brought on by his fatigue and weariness at seeing all the death and destruction wrought by "the War to End All Wars."
At the time that McCrae wrote this poem, there were few Americans, if any, serving in Europe, because the United States had not officially entered the war. But British and French forces were made up, not only of those nations' fighting men, but of men from throughout the British and French Empires. The haunting yet beautiful part, aside from the poem itself, is that poppies bloom every year among the thousands of crosses that mark the final resting place of these brave soldiers. It is almost as if the very ground where these men died is seeking to comfort them and look over their rest.
Veterans Day of course is meant to honor our soldiers who fought and survived the several wars our nation has seen since the American Revolution, yet it is almost impossible to remember and to honor our living veterans without thinking of those who fought and died. But I nonetheless am proud to honor our veterans in my blog, to thank them, and to remember that because of these people, and all who served in our armed forces over the years, Americans are a free people. I am proud to says that I owe my life and my freedom to these, our veterans, for without these people and their service to our nation, I would not have the freedom that I share with all Americans today. Without the sacrifice and service of our veterans, I would not be free to write these simple and inadequate words of thanks on a forum that potentially can be seen nation-wide.
God Bless America, and God Bless our Veterans. Thank you, Veterans, for your unselfish service to our great nation.
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