Remembrance Sunday

“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.”

It is compulsory (almost) to watch the Remembrance Day Parade in our house. I think it is important that Samuel knows why we have the parade and what the poppy stands for. It is horrifying to think that since the end of WWII there have been 16,000 service men and women killed in action. Did we learn nothing?

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, 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.