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| Canadian Soldier |
Today is Remembrance Day, a day that marks
the end of WW1, also known as the Great
War, and commemorates the sacrifice of those British and Commonwealth troops that
served in this conflict. Coincidentally, today
also happens to mark the 100th anniversary of the cessation of
hostilities. The participants are all gone now, consigned to the pages of
history texts, and yet it would seem that we are desperately in need of their
conviction and courage these days. The familiar evils of tyranny, and
suppression, are still very much alive and well these days. In fact some might
say that they are thriving! Although we cannot say that the First World War was
fought to end these patterns of behaviour, many of the participants surely felt
that they were doing just this. After the guns fell silent at 11:00am on November 11, 1918, the Western world, so horrified at the
slaughter of the previous four years, felt that this was a war so horrible that
no other wars could be considered if one remembered the horror of the trenches.
Sadly, how wrong they were.
Today I will spend the day with family and then,
later, sitting in front of the fire, have a drink to the memory of those that
served, and to those that I served with. I may even meet up with some of the
lads and talk about the old days, but probably not. Lest We Forget…..
In Flanders Fields
By Lt Col
John McCrae
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.
