I hope you took some time today to pause and remember those who have fallen in armed combat around the globe for the sake of the freedom that so many of us take for granted.
My own grandfather served in a British tank batallion during WWII. He was captured and served 9 months in a POW camp. When he left, after the camp was liberated, he had lost all his teeth and weighed in at an astonishing 90 pounds.
He died when I was very young and I wish that I had been able to get to know him better. All my memories of him are exceedingly fond and I would like to have been able to talk about what war memories he would have been willing to share.
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.
- John McCrae, 1915
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