Remembrance Day / Veterans Day

[Lil Red]

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.

 

by John McCrae

 

Remembrance Day/Veterans Day is tomorrow, November 11.

[Archaeology cat]

I forgot to wear my poppy today! Father had all veterans stand at the end of Mass. I hadn't known our Deacon was a vet.

[Anastasia13]

I forgot to wear my poppy today! Father had all veterans stand at the end of Mass. I hadn't known our Deacon was a vet.

 

Why a poppy?
 

[BG45]

We did a blessing for the vets at the end of Mass.  And to make a guess on the poppy, in the UK and many Commonwealth nations, the poppy has been a symbol of remembering the war dead since the creation of Remembrance Day after World War One ended.  

 

For any vets we have on PM, thank you for your service, and though it's a small gesture, Sheetz apparently is offering free lunch with some sort of conditions on Monday the 11th.

[Lil Red]

i found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy#Origins

[BG45]

Huh, way more in depth (and cooler) than the little bit I knew about.  Awesome though!

[AnneLine]

Praying for all Veterans!!!!!!  :pray:

 

When I first ws starting work (1970's) (horrors) the crepe paper poppies were very popular, and everyone wore them.

 

Learned the story of the WWI vets and the poppies at that time

 

IF anyone is interested, and enjoys fascinating real-life history, a few years ago a British History teacher, Bill Lamin, posted his grandfather's WWI diaries on line, exactly 90 years after they were written.... and did it over a few years.  We did not know (and I AM NOT TELLING!) what happened to his grand father until the last letters were received.  It really made the horrible experience of the WWI vets real for me.

 

And kind of like Phatmass, people from all over the world got involved in helping Bill tell his grandfather's story.   Ended up being on TV, publishing the letters in a book, and everything!  

 

You can check the link to the letter blog here:

 

http://wwar1.blogspot.com/

 

Praying for you today, Private Willie Lamin!

 

 

AND...

 

I was looking for some good Poppy Day visuals, and found it.... and a very interesting blog post as well!

 

 

 

There are a great many people who treat their paper poppies with all the respect that they afford the brave people they represent…but there are many who do not.

 

During my teens I was an Air Cadet.  Once upon a time, I had a short lived dream of being a pilot!  On November 11th, we would shine our shoes, starch our uniforms and line the streets of Preston.  The brave ones would parade past and we would salute them: all the frivolity of our youth cast aside for that moment when we would try with all our might to show respect and an understanding of the gravity of the situation.

 

read more here:

 

http://www.vintagefolly.com/my-blog/life/poppies

[Eowyn]

Lest we forget:

 

 

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam

Edited November 11, 2013 by Eowyn

[Archaeology cat]

Why a poppy?

Others beat me to the explanation. I bought a poppy from the vets every year in Liverpool.

Side note: I never got the reference to the poppies in "Penny Lane" until living in the UK. Edited November 11, 2013 by Archaeology cat