Armistice Day

Armistice Day is commemorated every year on November 11 to mark the peace agreement between the Allies of World War I and Germany – the total number of military and civilian casualties exceeded a shocking 38 million, making the Great War one of the deadliest conflicts in history. In high school, I read All Quiet on the Western Front, a chilling novel that vividly depicts the horrors of World War I. One November, when Ken and I were in England, we were so touched to see the respect the entire nation still has for their fallen from World War I – everyone wore a poppy, symbolic of the tens of thousands who perished in Flanders Fields in Belgium. Lt. Col. John McRae was a Canadian soldier who fought there – noticing how quickly poppies grew up around the graves of his fallen comrades, he penned the following poem. May the words inspire us all to remember the brave soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for our freedoms… and I’m grateful that Ken still has his poppy from that trip to England!

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 Fallen. 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