Remembering

Although it began as a day to remember those who died in the American Civil War, Memorial Day (once know as "Decoration Day") now honors all U.S. men and women who died while in the military service.

I thought this would be an appropriate time to visit one of our local cemeteries, where grave markers and flags indicate the final resting place of those who served in our armed forces.

Some of these men and women returned home to finish lives interrupted by war. They are recognized on Veterans Day.

Others died in faraway places, fighting for the country that they loved. These are the honorees on Memorial Day.


The peace of the morning was briefly disturbed by the sound of a parade on a neighboring street. There were to be patriotic songs played and heartfelt speeches given at a war memorial in the city park.


I preferred to linger a while with the dead.



"Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold."
-Rupert Brooke


"We who are left how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudgingly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?"
-Wilfred Wilson Gibson




"United States Flag" by tomsaint11

Thanks and Praise, For our Days: Veterans Day

Photograph © Andrew Dunn, 19 September 2004

In Flanders Fields

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. -John McCrae


Taps

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.

Go to sleep, peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor,
God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep.

Love, good night, Must thou go,
When the day, And the night
Need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all
To their rest.

Fades the light; And afar
Goeth day, And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well; Day has gone,
Night is on.

Thanks and praise, For our days,
'Neath the sun, Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go, This we know,
God is nigh. -Author Unknown