November 11th brings back Canada for
me and memories of poppies.
On this day many veterans around
our small town sold poppies; a small, red
velveteen flower with a black button center
attached to a long, straight pin.
All around town, everyone, young and old,
would pin a poppy to their suit coat
or military uniform or their small, winter
coat.
We would gather to remember those
who lost their lives in WW1 and WWII. My
father and my Uncle fought in WW II but
thankfully survived.
In schools across Canada, children
learned and memorized the poem
In Flanders Fields, a poem written by
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD.
As a child, with a red poppy pinned to my
St. Alexander's uniform--a mustard-coloured
short sleeve bouse under a green and brown
plaid uniform--in a sing-song voice I would
recite in a voice trained by the Sisters,
In Flanders Fields
I did not know then that the author
was a asurgeon attached to the
1st Field Artillery Brigade in Ypres Salient;
an area around Ypres in Belgium which
was the scene of some of the biggest
battles in WW1 (Wikipedia Ypres)
I also did not know that the word
Salient was not part of the town's
name but part of a battlefield feature
that projects into enemy territory.
(Ypres Salient-Wikipedia)
During one of the most terrible
battles of WW I, McCrae spent
17 days treating Canadians, British,
Indians, Frenc and Germans.
"I wish I could embody on paper
some of the varied sensations
of that seventeen days....
Seventeen
days of Hades!"
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
John McCrae lost a young friend
on the battlefield. Soon afterwards, while sitting
in the back of an ambulance and looking
at poppies growing in ditches near Ypres, he wrote
In Flanders Field.
Here in France we commemorate Armistice Day,
the day that the armistice was signed
between the Allies of World War 1 and Germany.
At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 the
guns of the Western Front fell silent
after more than four years of
continuous warfare.
Warfare continues in many
corners of our world today.
John McCrae, you left us
a legacy, never to forget,
always to remember
that tragedy and beauty
walk hand in hand.
me and memories of poppies.
On this day many veterans around
our small town sold poppies; a small, red
velveteen flower with a black button center
attached to a long, straight pin.
All around town, everyone, young and old,
would pin a poppy to their suit coat
or military uniform or their small, winter
coat.
We would gather to remember those
who lost their lives in WW1 and WWII. My
father and my Uncle fought in WW II but
thankfully survived.
In schools across Canada, children
learned and memorized the poem
In Flanders Fields, a poem written by
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD.
As a child, with a red poppy pinned to my
St. Alexander's uniform--a mustard-coloured
short sleeve bouse under a green and brown
plaid uniform--in a sing-song voice I would
recite in a voice trained by the Sisters,
In Flanders Fields
 |
| http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm |
I did not know then that the author
was a asurgeon attached to the
1st Field Artillery Brigade in Ypres Salient;
an area around Ypres in Belgium which
was the scene of some of the biggest
battles in WW1 (Wikipedia Ypres)
I also did not know that the word
Salient was not part of the town's
name but part of a battlefield feature
that projects into enemy territory.
(Ypres Salient-Wikipedia)
During one of the most terrible
battles of WW I, McCrae spent
17 days treating Canadians, British,
Indians, Frenc and Germans.
"I wish I could embody on paper
some of the varied sensations
of that seventeen days....
Seventeen
days of Hades!"
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
John McCrae lost a young friend
on the battlefield. Soon afterwards, while sitting
in the back of an ambulance and looking
at poppies growing in ditches near Ypres, he wrote
In Flanders Field.
Here in France we commemorate Armistice Day,
the day that the armistice was signed
between the Allies of World War 1 and Germany.
 |
| Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris |
At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 the
guns of the Western Front fell silent
after more than four years of
continuous warfare.
Warfare continues in many
corners of our world today.
John McCrae, you left us
a legacy, never to forget,
always to remember
that tragedy and beauty
walk hand in hand.
We are the Dead, Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset grow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
in Flanders fields.
 |
| Battlefield in Flanders |
Jude, thank you for writing and sharing this.
ReplyDelete