[i_rooster]

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

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.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

Thanks to Mack Welford for reminding me of this great poem.

From here: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
------------
In November 1918, Moina Michael penned a response to McCrae's poem entitled "We shall keep the faith" where she promised to wear a red poppy each year in remembrance.

We Shall Keep the Faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

[ambush]

DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Wilfred Owen 1893-1918

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime ...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

[Eug Wanker]

I kinda like this:

[DBursey]

Thanks to i_rooster and ambush for sharing the immortal words of McCrae and Owen, written as they were in the midst of the hellish carnage once known as the Great War.

My thoughts are with the more than 117,000 Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending the ideals of freedom and human dignity in conflicts throughout this strife-riven planet during the past 100 years. Today will see parades and services at countless cenotaphs across this great country in their honour.

My thanks to our veterans, and to the Canadian men and women currently in uniform, who regularly put themselves into harms way in hot spots across the globe.

On a more personal note, I'd like to acknowledge the ultimate sacrifice paid my my great uncle Jack Bursey, who fought and died in the battle of Beaumont-Hamel side by side with so many other brave and selfless Newfoundlanders.

[wdlove]

Thank you both for remembering this great day. Happy Veteran's day to all my fellow Veteran's. This day is in there honor for the freedom that we have.

[E's Lil Theorem]

Happy Veteran's Day, all.

From Macminute's front page:

[Lancer409]

and *STAY SAFE* ... to all those in the field as we speak ...

[Gankdawg]

Thanks to all those who serve and have served....

[ThinkInsane]

I didn't see this thread until it was pointed out in the poll forum thread. I think I speak for all vets when I say you’re welcome to all those that wish us well and remember the sacrifices made.

[macaddict0001]

So true

[SimpleLife]

Thank you for all men and women of good will who laid their lives on the line of fire to protect our very small lives and all small luxuries and huge egos.

We owe you our lives, and all those things we take for granted; some of our freedom, some of our happiness, that of which we never really want to assume on our own.

I pray for all leaders of the world to fight for freedom, and hope that any lives sacrificed will never be in vain.

And to Hell those war mongers who fight for their own profit and glory, or those who make a joke or disrespect people fighting with their heart for what they believe in, or those who take pleasure in the killing...

[ambush]

I pray (uh not really, lets say I feel sympathy for) for families who are the victims of Bush's imperialism.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by ambush:
I pray (uh not really, lets say I feel sympathy for) for families who are the victims of Bush's imperialism.

WOW. I never would have expected you to be this huge of an asshole. I mean, I knew you were and ass, but your insensitivity knows no bounds.

This is a thread in which a person wanted to bring attention to the sacrifices that have been made for America's freedom and you have to throw a political insult to our current president.

Maybe you should have posted a picture of the proposed Canadian monument to the American deserters who fled their country instead of fight for it's freedoms.

You really make Canada look bad. I mean REALLY REALLY bad.

ON TOPIC: I am going to visit my grandfather's graves this Saturday to honor them for the sacrifices that they made during WWII. Both received two purple hearts each for wounds suffered during battles in the Pacific while they were in the Navy. My mom's uncle lost his right leg during a battle in WWII also.

11th hour, 11th day, 11th month....

[macaddict0001]

I actually agree with ambush (however irrelevent his comment may be)and your former sig is not really any better:

I am kilbey and I approve this message.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
I actually agree with ambush (however irrelevent his comment may be)and your former sig is not really any better:
[/B]

So you agree that a thread honoring the sacrifices that veterans made fighting for the USA should have a comment in it, from a Canadian no less, bashing our current president? You're an asshole too.

If you didn't get my previous sig "I'm Kilbey and I approved this message." then you haven't seen any of the candidates campaigning ads and understand the humor then you need a sense-of-humor vaccination or booster shot or something. It's especially funny for me because I was over a friend's house visiting them when out of nowhere his 2 year old comes running into the room and shouts "I'm George W. Bush and I approved this message". We all bust out laughing and thought it was hilarious. My friend happens to be a staunch democrat and even he thought what his son had said was hilarious.

[ThinkInsane]

Ambush is young and ignorant, if he doesn't know that veterans day was recognized long before GWB came into office, then educate him. Calling him names isn't going to make anything better. As a veteran, I feel more sympathy for him than anything else, knowing full well why he has the rights to make stupid comments.

[fireside]

happy veterans day to everyone who served and didn't serve.



also, it was my birthday. a happy day-old birthday to me too.

...

what?

[Cubeoid]

[phoenixboy70]

Originally posted by ThinkInsane:
As a veteran, I feel more sympathy for him than anything else, knowing full well why he has the rights to make stupid comments.

that's easy for you to say, as a moderator.

[i_rooster]

oops

[i_rooster]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
WOW. I never would have expected you to be this huge of an asshole.

Ambush has every right to express his opinion, even more so if he is a Canadian! You are free to call him names, of course! Just makes you look more shabby that you can imagine.

[andi*pandi]

reading the poems brought tears to my eyes. My grandfather served in WWII.


so Canada and US share the same veterans day?

[DBursey]

Ladies and gentlemen, this thread should be dedicated to all allied soldiers, be they Canadian, American, British, Aussie or so on. November 11 is Veteran's day, Remembrance day, Armistice day ... remember?

John McCrae was a Canadian soldier. Wilfred Owen was a British writer. Shame on anyone who seizes on one member's post as excuse to deride an entire country. That goes for America bashers as well as everyone else. Take a bit of pride in yourselves; don't debase a thread intended to honour the sacrifices of veterans from each of our countries.

Canadians wear red poppies as a sign of respect for our vets and peacekeepers. Is this tradition shared in any other country?

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by DBursey:
Canadians wear red poppies as a sign of respect for our vets and peacekeepers. Is this tradition shared in any other country?

The local VFW halls sell poppies with proceeds going towards veterans and their families.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by i_rooster:
Ambush has every right to express his opinion, even more so if he is a Canadian! You are free to call him names, of course! Just makes you look more shabby that you can imagine.

Even more so because he's Canadian?!?! Explain that.

Hey, the veterans fought for my freedoms. And this includes free speech. Yours too.

[ambush]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
Even more so because he's Canadian?!?! Explain that.

Hey, the veterans fought for my freedoms. And this includes free speech. Yours too.

I totally respect men who die for their country.
I know about veterans' day, I'll all over the medias, here, in Canada.

they get 100% of my respect (unless they are war criminals, of course, and I don't mean deserters.. because I also respect them).

after having posted my poem, I wanted to say sorry for the Iraq soldiers who have to fight an unjust war.

What the hell is wrong with you... and I make Canada look bad? This is called generalization. Please read what Socrates had to say on this. They,re Sophisms. Hey, at least I know every american isn't a redneck fundamentalist like you. Please. Don't generalize.

to furthermore own you, Kilbey: My uncle died during combat against Nazis in a warplane (must have been an horrible death). He served in a French Canadian (apparently the best men of the Canadian Armed Forces...) regiment during WW2. He was buried in europe. Another died in one of the beaches in Normandy. They were "testing" defense and sent French Canadians there.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by ambush:
to furthermore own you, Kilbey: My uncle died during combat against Nazis in a warplane (must have been an horrible death). He served in a French Canadian (apparently the best men of the Canadian Armed Forces...) regiment during WW2. He was buried in europe. Another died in one of the beaches in Normandy. They were "testing" defense and sent French Canadians there.

You're using your dead relatives who died in a war for an "owned" comment?!?!?!?!?!

I cry for you.

[ThinkInsane]

Originally posted by phoenixboy70:
that's easy for you to say, as a moderator.

Actually, I was speaking as a combat veteran, not as a moderator, and frankly, I don't see what my position as a moderator here has to do with it. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because images of the sacrifices made are seared into my head. I have seen first hand the sacrifice people are willing to make to protect our freedoms. I feel sympathy for those that don't understand that sacrifice and feel that the day meant to remember those that served has anything to do with what's going on in Iraq. No matter how you feel about current events, Ambush's comment was ignorant. That has nothing to do with me being a moderator.

[phoenixboy70]

Originally posted by ThinkInsane:
Actually, I was speaking as a combat veteran...

sorry. it was more of a "light-hearted comment". i said "moderator" because they are kind of in charge of "freedom of speech" here at macnn.

i'm curious, what war did you fight in to secure our freedom? you seem kind of young to have been fighting in ww II. (honest question)

[Chris O'Brien]

Originally posted by andi*pandi:
so Canada and US share the same veterans day?

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...emembrance-Day

Originally posted by DBursey:
Canadians wear red poppies as a sign of respect for our vets and peacekeepers. Is this tradition shared in any other country?

We do here in Britain too (see link above).

[ThinkInsane]

I never said I fought to secure our freedom, but it is the reason why I enlisted. When I came to the US I saw a dramatic improvement in the quality of my life. I no longer had to worry about grown men pelting me and my schoolmates with rocks because we were the wrong religion as we walked to school. I no longer saw APC's on the streets. There weren't any bombs going off. I felt a debt of gratitude that I felt I should repay, and to make sure that never happens again. I joined up to protect those rights. When i went through boot camp, the most common reason I heard was 'to protect our freedoms' as why others enlisted. I joined up because I understood that even the ignorant have a right to speak their piece.

So, when it comes down to it, I fought in the Persian Gulf because I thought the people of Kuwait had a right to their land, I fought in Somalia to make sure starving people could eat (don't confuse my mission with the Blackhawk Down thing, I was a Marine and our mission was getting relief convoys to where they had to go, we had nothing to do with the debacle in Mog) and I fought in the Balkans because I thought people had an absolute right not to be ethnically cleansed.

I may not have participated in a campaign as noble as WW2, but the reasons I served are the same as the old-timers. To protect what I hold dear. to pay back a debt I felt I owed. To show my gratitude for all I had been given.

[mitchell_pgh]

It really saddens me to see a perfectly good thread derailed by the comments of an immature poster that took a perfectly nonpolitical thread and turned it political.

I honor all those that served... in good times and in bad. To knowingly put your life in harms way for others is the ultimate sacrifice.

[ambush]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
You're using your dead relatives who died in a war for an "owned" comment?!?!?!?!?!

I cry for you.

No. I wanted to make you look like a fool because you said earlier that didn't care about veterans.

Anyway, sorry guys for taking Kiljoy's baits.

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by andi*pandi:
reading the poems brought tears to my eyes. My grandfather served in WWII.


so Canada and US share the same veterans day?

yeah but in canada we call it rememberance day.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by ambush:
No. I wanted to make you look like a fool because you said earlier that didn't care about veterans.

Anyway, sorry guys for taking Kiljoy's baits.

Either way, you soiled the memories of your relatives to insult a Mac Geek on teh intarweb.

SEVERLY OFF TOPIC: Demonhood made me remove your quote from my sig.

[SamuraiDL]

this thread lasted 11 posts...

[FulcrumPilot]

I collect WWII anectodotes, here is one.

""Shore, his left leg amputated above the knee, was blown by a landmine along with four of his buddies as they cleared a bunker in Hochwald forest in the Netherlands.

Conner said most of his flight crew didnt make it home.

"All we heard was 20 mm canon fire. The wing caught fire. The pilot says 'abandon aircraft' and then that was the beginning" Conner jumped feet out first, out of the plane that was banking 70 degrees.

"I went through the propeller and it clipped one leg off. The two behind me realized I had gone the wrong way. You're supposed to go head first. They went head first and it clipped their heads off. As I was going down, I could see this black liquid dripping and I thought 'oh that's oil, the airplane blew up'. Then I realized....' His voice trailed off.

Conner counted his three limbs and figured he could make it, and pulled his chute ripcord. It didn't work. he hauled the chute open manually, landed in a forest clearing, made himself a tourniquet and was found crawling across a snowy field the next day by the French prisoners of war working a Catholic-run farm in Nazi Germany."


Just remembering the uncommon sacrifices that were made by such common men who responded to the call of duty.