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Veterans Day; In Rememberence
Topic Started: Nov 11 2005, 12:24 PM (136 Views)
Biyah
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A Keeper of Lore & a Guardian of Secrets

November 11th, 1918

After years of hell in the Trenches, the first great World War, the War to end all Wars, comes to a close on 5am in the bloody forest of Compiegne, when the Germans sign an Armistice. One year later, President Woodrow Wilson issued an Armistice Day proclamation. It read, in part "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with Solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which if has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy peace and justice in the councils of the nation."

Many years later on May 24th, 1954; after various other proclamations by the US Federal Government and a few State governments, Congress declared that Armistice Day would be renamed Veterans Day and it would become a Federal Holiday. President Eisenhower, himself a veteran of the European Theater in World War 2, asked the nation to observe the date to honor the servicemen of all America's Wars.

So this is Veterans Day, a day to honor the Soldiers of our country... alive and dead. Whatever your politics, whatever your motivations, I believe the soldiers who spend their lives on the front deserve our respect.

I have included three poems, the first being "In Flanders Fields" by Lt Col John McCrae. This poem was written during the First World War, about the Battle of Ypres. I found it fitting. Also included are two other poems, replies to "In Flanders Fields".

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.



Reply to In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the cannons boom,
And fitful flashes light the gloom;
While up above, like eagles, fly
The fierce destroyers of the sky;
With stains the earth wherein you lie
Is redder than the poppy bloom,
In Flanders Fields.
Sleep on, ye brave! The shrieking shell,
The quaking trench, the startling yell,
The fury of the battle hell
Shall wake you not, for all is well;
Sleep peacefully, for all is well.

Your flaming torch aloft we bear,
With burning heart and oath we swear
To keep the faith, to fight it through,
To crush the foe, or sleep with you,
In Flanders Fields.

~JA Armstrong


America's Answer
Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead
The fight that you so bravely led
We've taken up. And we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep,
With each a cross to mark his bed,
And poppies blowing overhed,
When once his own life-blood ran red
So let your rest be sweet and deep
In Flanders Fields.


Fear not that ye have died for naught;
The torch ye threw to us we caught,
Ten million hands will hold it high,
And freedom's light shall never die!
We've learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders' fields.

~RW Lilliard
 
Kurdazistan
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:poke:

Never forget.
 
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