I don’t think it comes as any surprise to you that my people have been fighting and dying for this country since well before it was a country. It is not true, however, that my great great ancestress in the Jamestown Settlement gave the Mayflower bad directions because she didn’t want “tacky neighbors”. Well, okay, probably not true.
Like all grand old families we are rich in two things: Generals and crazy people, and my people are just lousy with both. But Memorial Day isn’t about the Generals, it’s about the folks without the history books or the counties named after them. It’s about the men and women who went to war and came back in a box, or didn’t come back at all.
In a few moments it will be 3 p.m. on the eastern coast of America. Please observe a moment of silence in honor of those who died so we might live.
In Flanders Fields
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 (1872 – 1918)
One of my great-grandfathers still sleeps in “Flanders Fields”. He died in one of the last battles of the Somme Offensive (Desire Trench).
The other two made it back home to Canada.
Thanks for printing this.
Comment by Geogrrl — May 26, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
We also saw many of you comment on our posts,
Comment by kraol — January 7, 2010 @ 9:45 pm