War can tear countries apart - or bring them closer together.
War isn't always right and I don't support every one.
But, for those who believe strongly in supporting their country in combat - that is an unbelievable personal sacrifice that I acknowledge.
Mostly on this day, I think of the two great (and horrific) wars that happened in the last century and greatly shaped how we live today. The poem below was written by a Canadian medic serving in Belgium just before he passed away.
In Flanders Fields
by John McCrea - May 1915
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.
The poppies referred to in the poem grew in profusion in Flanders in the spoiled earth of the battlefields and cemeteries where war casualties were buried and thus became a symbol of Remembrance Day, November 11.
Flanders Fields was the site where around half a million deaths occurred in the horrific trenches of World War I. There are numerous military cemeteries and ‘Missing Memorials’ in the region commemorating those of all nationalities who fell in battle. Most of the soldiers who perished were the victims of poison gas attacks.
