Among Friends

[PA Mom-mom]

I know this has been posted before, but it bears repeating.

In Flanders Fields

By John McCrae

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.

[Love my grandkids]

@PA Mom-mom Thank you. Am I the only one who gets weepy when reading this?

[Happy2BHere]

@PA Mom-mom   Thanks for posting "In Flanders Fields". Always so solemnly beautiful to my soul. My father was a WWII vet and he insured that we kids grew up with all the respect in the world for our military personnel.

[I am still oxox]

My late Mom used to recite this to us this time of

[PA Mom-mom]

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@Love my grandkids wrote:

@PA Mom-mom Thank you. Am I the only one who gets weepy when reading this?

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@Love my grandkids  I do too.

[Oznell]

Thank you for "In Flanders Fields",  @PA Mom-mom !

John McCrae, Canadian physician and military major, saw fighting on many fronts, including South Africa, before enlisting again at the age of 41 to serve in World War 1.

John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields",  in 1915.

He died of pneumonia, in the British General Hospital in Wimereux, France, in 1918, while still in command.

The lovely, understated memorial to John McCrae and his immortal poem at Ypres, Belgium--

 

He wrote the poem on the occasion of the death of a close friend, also in the war.  He conducted that friend's service, noting how quickly the poppies were growing around the grave sites at Ypres, and the poem evolved from that....

[PA Mom-mom]

@Oznell  Thank you for fleshing out that history. And, as anyone who has tried to cut and save poppies knows, they cannot last for very long once cut.  And, of course, poppies are the symbol of remembrance.

[Love my grandkids]

@Oznell Thank you for the info and wonderful photos. I knew he was a physician but not how or where he died.

[Neetgal2]

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@Love my grandkids wrote:

@PA Mom-mom Thank you. Am I the only one who gets weepy when reading this?

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No, you are not.  I miss my father, more than I could have ever imagined.  He served, my uncles served and many neighbors and friends fathers growing up.  I do understand.  I am going to see The Longest Yard on Wednesday.  If you are not familiar with this exhibit, look it up.  I have been wearing my own crocheted poppy for two weeks.  I put a black button in the middle from one of my Dad's jackets.  My Mom kept a button jar!