In Flanders Fields

[caddyman]

Today is Remembrance Sunday and shortly after I have finished this entry the annual ceremony will begin at the Cenotaph.

Between 1919 and 1945, the ceremony was held on Remembrance Day proper, 11am 11 November, the time and day of the signing of the Armistice in 1918. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919. After the Second World War the ceremony was moved to Remembrance Sunday, the Sunday nearest to 11 November and since the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in 1995 it has become customary to hold services on both Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day.

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.


Poppy found in field outside Foxton, S Cambs, June 2008

There are those who ignore Remembrance Day and Armistice Day because they see it as a glorification of war. That is to miss the point: Remembrance is about those who died in the service of their country. They were rarely glory hounds and many just wanted to be home with their families. Often they were fighting for their mates, their village and their families. By the time they died, in the Great War, few would have still been fueled primarily by continued feelings of patriotism. They were there and they were dying because they couldn't let their friends and family down.

We have the freedom to be dismissive because they gave up theirs and even if some believe that war can never be justified, that is an opinion to impress upon the politicians who send soldiers, sailors and airmen to fight, not the servicemen themselves.

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[good1zrtaken.livejournal.com]

my grandfather taught my that poem when i was very young. he was in the VFW and they would pass out fake poppies every year in front of local shops.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

What he said.

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

I was taken to every Armistice parade when I was a child to watch as my father marched to honour the memory of those who were killed in conflict. My dad continued to attend even after he could no longer march because of all his friends and fellow soldiers who died alongside him when he was at Dunkirk in 1940 and then in 1944 when he "went back to sort out Adolf" three men died when the vehicle they were in was blown up by a mine. My dad survived although he lost his right leg. Every year I watch the parade in London and I remember watching my dad march - in step with the others - because it was important that we never forget. Today my three and a half year-old granddaughter watched for the first time. I tried not to let my tears upset her but she will learn