Time for Taps - In Flanders Fields

[SaturnIonVue]

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the Poppies blow
Between the crosses row by 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.

Lt. Col. John McCrea of the Canadian Army

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The holiday known as Decoration Day began after the Civil War. Decoration Day was first observed in 1868 to honor those who had died fighting in the Civil War. After World War I, Memorial Day became a day to honor all who had fallen as a result of war.One tradition that came out of Memorial Day was the wearing of red poppies.

The wearing of poppies derived from a poem written by Lt. Col. John McCrea of the Canadian Army. He was a military doctor who was inspired to write the poem after watching the pain and death that comes from war and, specifically the death of a young friend.

 

[Boomer]

A big thank you for posting this. It is a timeless poem and gets at the sacrifice of soldiers who fell in battle, never knowing how the big picture turned out. We need to be reminded of this type of sacrifice and the effect of such loss on families, friends and country.

I get so upset these days when I ask high school and college students about the Civil War, WW I or WW II. They really are taught absolutley nothing about these events, apparently. It is up to us as individuals to make sure that our children are aware of these events and the sacrifices of brave American men and women who were part of them.

 

[SaturnIonVue]

You're absolutely right about students being taught practically nothing about the country's history. The same thing goes for geography as well. I use to engage new college grads in conversations about history, etc. I quickly gave that idea up. Rarely did I find that "higher" education means competency in diversified fields, other than the one field they major in.

Incidentally, when I was a kid, even as a teenager, I use to see the poppies given out for people to wear in a buttonhole. For many years the poppie symbol was synonymous with Memorial Day. As the old World War I veterans died off, so did that great custom and the reminder that we got that our freedom was not free.

Now many people don't even get that and other holidays off from work. Sometimes, I wonder if we've become too greedy even to take time to notice what we have lost.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Is this because of the morphine administered to the wounded?

 

[Samilcar]

I think it's because poppy seeds germinate more readily in disturbed soil. After the artillery blasted WWI battlefields were left in peace, the ground seemingly erupted with poppy flowers.