Memorial Day

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.

– Lt. Col. John McCrae, 1872-1918

This is one of very few poems that my grandfather quoted to me. Later, when I was in the service I walked many of the WWI and WWII battlefields in Northwestern Europe, with my friend Cyrus.

Live every day to its fullest! Each day was bought for you by Men of Courage and Honor. They loved you before you were born, and forsook their lives to purchase this day, and all days for you.

What kind of courage it that? The kind that "The Four Chaplains" had. http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/05/it-happened-one-night.html
Rather a pity there was not a remake of this incident, rather than that darned "Titanic" movie.