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.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

Note that the number of WW I vets has dwindled down to a tiny few (my maternal grandfather was one, who died in the early sixties). Barring some miracle medical breakthroughs, in another decade they will all lie (at least metaphorically) in Flanders fields. Honor today the few who are still with us, and their compatriots who no longer are. And thank, silently or otherwise, those in harm's way today overseas.

[Note: this is a repost from two years ago. I may update later if I have any further thoughts in context, but you might want to read this related post from yesterday, if you haven't already. I'll be keeping this post at the top of the blog all day.]

[Update a few minutes later]

Google (uncharacteristically) remembers. I don't think they observed Memorial Day.

Glenn also has some additional related links.

[Update a few minutes later]

Even the BBC has figured out that things are going pretty well in Iraq. How long will it take the Gray Lady and the networks to figure it out?

[Evening update on Veteran's Day]

I had a post a few days ago about overaged adolescents who want to "make a difference." Well, here are people who want to make a difference, and really do:

All of us are volunteers. We're in Iraq because we want to serve. We are well educated and physically fit and could have pursued a variety of other life options. But, to paraphrase Defense Secretary Robert Gates, we are driven by the romantic and optimistic ideal that we can improve the world. We are seeing real progress on the ground, and we are helping Iraq to change.

Idealism, however, does not diminish our longing for home or the pain of missing family. It does not dispel all fear and doubt, and it does not heal our wounded or fallen friends. So when we are feeling disheartened, we open the care packages and read the letters.

And I don't see any whining about their pay or benefits.

Send them some more.

A somber list of all surviving WWI veterans:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I

And a personal moment to remember my late father who served in the US Navy in the Pacific during WWII.

I had WWI veterans in my family as well - a grandfather in the Austro-Hungarian army and another in the German - but always felt the tug of McCrae's poem.

The friend who pointed me at this blog a couple of years ago likes this song, on the same subject.

I'm surprised that Google didn't use poppies in the logo, since that's the symbol for the day in the good part of North America. (It was the brightest thing Don Cherry was wearing last night.)

Not that anyone remembers the Bonus Army of WWI vets
who marched on washington for their bonuses only
to have tanks under command of Col McArthur mow them down.

Thanks to all veterans who comment here for your service.

NEXT:

Dear anon jackass!!

Why the f^*k can't dumb SOBs like you see the irony of being able to run off at the mouth in places like this STRICTLY due to the sacrifices of people who served in the military?

Your freedom to come in here and make sidelong swipes at whatever you like IS NOT FREE!

Now go ahead and exercise your God given right of free speech to mouth off about my language or how abrasive I am. Many of us fought for your right to do so.

Jackass.

What's sad is the number of true patriots who go to war
only to find themselves abandoned by their country when
they return.

It's always cheering crowds and big speeches when they leave
and it's crickets chirping when they return. The disaster
that was Walter Reed is typical of that

Why do some folks, like you Mr. Bonus Marcher-remember, seem to believe that because someone doesn't mention some particular factoid in history that they must have necessarily forgotten it, or ignored it, or misunderstood it?

I mean, you mention the Bonus Marchers, but why didn't you mention the Japanese-Americans interned during World War II? Have you forgotten that? You didn't mention the Armenian Genocide, the Biafran Civil War, the Night of Long Knives, the Second Indo-Pakistan War, the fallout from the Battle of Hastings, or the psychological injury done to those Japanese citizens in Kokura who narrowly missed being bombed on August 9th, 1945, just because the weather was bad. Obviously, you didn't remember those people, since you didn't mention them.

(Sorry, Rand, for feeding the troll there, but lordy I hate the "neglected parenthetical" school of argument)

Also just for the record, "mow them down" is a slight exaggeration, inasmuch as it typically implies shooting or using the edges of blades. Macarthur ordered nonlethal riot control techniques to be used in the main. Not that it was anything but terrible - there was loss of life, tent cities were burned - but it could have been even more so.

Now if we were analyzing anonymous' motives, we would have to ask whether he was unaware of such details, or whether he finds them inconvenient to his purpose.

We might also wonder if he could conceive a free market solution to the problem, at zero outlay to the gov't, which was inexplicably never tried? Or has he even a notion of the problem or 'what he would have done?'

re: Jane Bernstein's link to "Willie Mcbride", the UK punk band Angelic Upstarts unplugged for a bit and did a truly excellent version of it in the mid '80s.

What's sad is the number of true patriots who go to war only to find themselves abandoned by their country when they return.

Please oh sage of truth, tell us who that is. I keep hearing of this "abandonment", but have yet to see proof. Show me one, just one person who has been turned away from the VA.

Is the military in general and VA system, in particular, overtaxed? Yes, they are always overtaxed. But it's always overtaxed because simple minded morons like you vote to elect worms who think the military, and the VA, should be funded with the same level importance as museums or repainting a school.

Here's an idea, instead of telling us what everyone before did wrong before today, stand up for those you deem abandoned and vote in people who are strong on the military and will fund it and the VA better. Or is your idea to dismantle the military to keep those poor boys with no other choice out of harms way?

Query, oh nameless one, did you bitch and complain when Clinton and his buds were gutting the military? Were you as worried about guys in the military then as you claim to be now? Or are you one of those Peace Dividend people?

nichevo thinks the free market would have solved the
bonus army problem, I suppose the market would
be able to buy these certs, but with a 5% discount rate,
they would be worth 40% of face, and if the marketers
wanted a profit, then these would be worth 10-20% of face.

The answer that was ultimately solved was the VA,
and it did prevent future recurrences of soldiers
marching on vets with bayonets fixed

The answer that was ultimately solved was the VA,
and it did prevent future recurrences of soldiers
marching on vets with bayonets fixed

...which they did with no orders or leadership and without President Hoover being in the loop. The bane of the Depression years, unwarranted and senseless soldier on soldier violence.

Are you going to address my questions, or are you just cherry picking?

You know, nameless, it just occurred to me that you are wrong on that soldiers marching on vets statement. Do a little research on Viet Nam war protests in D.C.

"It's always cheering crowds and big speeches when they leave
and it's crickets chirping when they return. The disaster
that was Walter Reed is typical of that
Posted by at November 11, 2007 01:25 PM"

That's ridiculous. Many people I know, including myself, take the time out of their lives to welcome our soldiers home at airports and at the bases. Politicians are often there to give speeches and shake hands. Marching bands play triumphantly. Vets from previous wars show up to pass on their gratitude. Many people are there to enthusiastically cheer and applaud. Far from "crickets chirping" I'd say.

When oh when, will our military heros remember their oaths and remove the utterly corrupt and irredemable monster that is the US government? Where is our Pinochet/Franco?

When oh when, will our military heros remember their oaths and remove the utterly corrupt and irredemable monster that is the US government? Where is our Pinochet/Franco?

Sounds like the military has kept the faith.

When oh when, will our military heros remember their oaths and remove the utterly corrupt and irredemable monster that is the US government? Where is our Pinochet/Franco?

So, are you calling for a military coup? If so, then you'll never understand the US military. You'd be the one that falls into the "all enemies, foreign or domestic" category.

Bob,
your answer to our country's problems is a military dictator? Why don't you just move to a country where they already have that?

Is it me or did Veterans Day take a weird turn?

Am I just asking a lot of questions?

Steve, I think any internet group tends to be strange due in part to the diversity of the group members, but Transterrestrial also has some mean walk-ins. It must be Bush's fault.

Be careful what you wish for, Bob, you might just get it. Historically, we could see the military alienation from society manifest itself along
Roman lines in the late 1st Century B.C. Along the
lines of Marius and Sulla; with proscriptions on 'inconvenient' persons; leading to the Pompey/Lepidus/ Caesar track; do you really want to go there