Wednesday, November 11, 2020

In Flanders Fields

Image is from a WWI Canadian propaganda poster by Frank Nicolet Lucien.

Yes, I know what day it is, officially. Let me repeat what I wrote last year - 
Today is Veterans Day, a day set aside to remember the men and women who served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America. It is also the anniversary of the end of World War I, Armistice Day as it is known in a number of countries, Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth. A day set aside to remember the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918. One hundred and one years ago this very day.

To put that in perspective, when I was 13 years old, the Civil War had ended 101 years before, as an historian, both those conflicts are ever green in my thoughts. For many though, even the events of September 11, 2001 seem like ancient history. I just don't think we pay nearly enough heed to our forebears, the ones who made our today possible. For many, there were no tomorrows, some gave all of their tomorrows so that we would have today.

My grandfather was a veteran, my father was a veteran, I'm a veteran, my three children are all veterans. Do they, do I, expect some sort of special treatment because of my service? They don't, I don't. We were proud to have served our country in war and in peace. I can't speak for the rest of my family, but for myself it's enough to have served.

I think of the many who supported me while I served. Those who paid their taxes so that I might have the equipment I needed to perform the mission. Those who built that equipment, those who made home such a sweet thing to return to when my service was done, and those who just said, "Thanks" when all was said and done.

I occasionally get thanked for my service, and I really appreciate that, especially when it's from the younger generation. Don't let the media fool you, most of the kids coming out into the world today are hard-working, decent people. Remember the Meejah focuses on the bad ones, not the good ones. Just as bad news leads, so do the bad apples, of which there really are damned few, and those concentrated in just a few places.

My thought for the day, for this day, is that America is a nation worth serving, worth fighting for, and, if need be, worth dying for. America isn't just the land and the waters of the nation, it's primarily her people. Of many different backgrounds, of many different cultures, of many different beliefs, yet we are one people.

Out of many, one. I truly believe that.

God bless the people of the United States and the beautiful land we inhabit. We have our problems, we have our difficulties and disagreements, but at the end of the day, we are all Americans. It was an honor and a privilege to serve this great nation. I would not have traded my days in uniform for anything.

Thank a veteran, yes.

But thank those for whom we served as well. Without the people of this great country, what would have been the point of serving?

I will spend this day, as I do every Veterans Day, remembering those I served with, some of whom have already passed into the mists of time. I will also remember the long line of my brothers and sisters in arms who have so ably served since that April morn in 1775.

Mostly though, I will remember those who didn't come home...

Nothing has changed since I wrote that. Still feel the same.

Enjoy the day, thank a veteran. But remember...

I will.

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. 
One day, I'll join them...



36 comments:

  1. The bulletin board outside the church has that first line where the preachers message usually goes. Old Guns

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  2. Thank you. All of you, for sticking to it.
    You guys are top notch.


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  3. Ya......today is the day to remember all those who served.....a grandfather, uncles, and parents.....(sigh)......good post Sarge.

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  4. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. Bugler sound Last Post

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    1. One of the most powerful pieces by The Bard. I know no man who, hearing that, doesn't bow up and stand taller.

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  5. Sarge, as part of my visit home this month we drove out to the local National Cemetery. Very moving and humbling. Thank you.

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    1. Arlington is hallowed ground, as are all National Cemeteries.

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  6. Seeing this brought me back to the WWI museum in Kansas City, and the time I spent there.
    On another note, over at the Ace of Spades site, there was a link to this WWII picture - which I thought could be used at some point in your story:
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/141544732864-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

    Frank

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    1. I've seen that picture. The wounded German is a veteran of the Eastern Front, the ribbon in his second button hole is for the men who served there during the winter of 1941-1942. It's a good picture, I've almost used it a couple of times. Thanks for the reminder!

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    2. In dying and in death, many of us aren't enemies, but brothers.

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    3. The LT has his souvenir Luger and holster. Might be LT Paddock and Opa Kohler, for all I know.
      Enemies, but still human.
      May God bless than all on this Veterans Day.
      John Blackshoe

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    4. That photo is public domain- here is an original with the Army ID info on the back.
      https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/117544-79th-div-troops-shoot-german-cyclist-photovideo/

      Extra high resolutions scan at:
      https://i.imgur.com/P6l2td0.jpg
      JB

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    5. You'd be surprised how many WWII photos are out there claimed by unscrupulous purveyors of photos who will try to sell you a photo which is the property of the US Government or the Bundesarchiv in Germany. People will pay for it, not knowing any better.

      Also the official story is often far different from what the seller might label it. The world seems full of thieves at times.

      Thanks for the update JB!

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  7. Ooh rah, BZ, huzzah, hip hip, here's to your service and and the Chanters who have served as well Here's to the spouses too, as we couldn't have done it without their love and support.

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  8. For some reason, this day has always, once I knew the significance, been one of reflection and, after finding 'In Flanders Field,' been one of periodic very wet eyes.

    Sad that I've had to explain the significance of this day and that poem to people.

    And I miss seeing veterans selling poppies. I haven't seen that in my area for years.

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    1. They do that in Little Rhody on Memorial Day.

      Someone asked me about the whole Memorial Day/Veterans Day thing. I don't make any real distinction. I remember the dead every day, I thank God for the vets every day as well. I cannot forget them or the kids on active duty these days. They mean a lot to me.

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    2. HEY Beans! Late, late here but ditto on the poppies. Growing up in the 50s they used to be sold our town square by all the vets organizations. Today? Like practices of a lost civilization..

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  9. Hey AFSarge;

    One day we will join them.....But not too soon.

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  10. Don McCollor...The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - when the guns fell silent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTA10n1Ztqo ...{disclaimer - the film shown is from a sound rangefinder that recorded only sound intensity [not actual audio]. It has been dubbed to imagine what the end of WW1 sounded like [the bird tweeting at the end is probably false]). The film track itself is moving. Artillery fire spikes till 11 AM, a few isolated spikes, then the film shows silence...Like in another time when Bruce Catton said what it really meant to the soldiers of both side when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox "It was Palm Sunday, and they would all live to see Easter"...

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    1. It must have been a relief to the guys on the front lines when those guns went silent.

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    2. (Don McCollor)..and after all this time the Forest still claims its prey...After a century, people still die from WW1 explosives....

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  11. Ironically enough,for us in Poland this is Independence Day. On that day in 1918, Pilsudski rode train into Warsaw after being released from prison by crumbling German Empire (he was held there after refusing to swear, together with his Polish Legions total loyalty to Central Powers), and took helm of the reborn Polish state as it struggled to establish own borders, much of it by force. It took Greater Poland and Silesian uprisings to establish borders with Germany, and much larger war to defeat incoming Soviet invasion. WW1 is on grand scale a disaster that ruined much of the progress of the fin-de-siecle and brought twin menaces of communism and fascism into birth. But for Poland it was a miracle that brought down all three aprtitioning empires down and allowed for a firs time in over century to establish free nationhood. Without it , we would have become an downtrodden minority being assimilated by larger nations... Just look at fate of Kurds to this day.

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    1. The three empires which fell freed many people in Eastern Europe. Only to later fall under the Nazis, then the Communists. It took a long time to defeat the Soviets.

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