Memoral Day Weekend!
I like Memorial day weekend and I look forward to the hokey little parade and ceremonies that come along with living in a small town. One thing that I started to notice over the past few is that the VFW float has changed. There is only one WWII guy left and the Korean vets are really fading as well. Of course the Vietnam guys must be around but, as was the case with that conflict, they don’t really seem to get (or maybe want) any acknowledgement, as far as appearing in the parade. I served post-Vietnam (Carter administration) and spent my years of service in a haze of partying. I do think it is important to remember all the young people who gave their service and I think some of my feelings apparently rubbed off on the Princess who always accompanied me to the annual ceremonies. She has always been a strong public speaker, Girl Scout and Student of History, so it was not surprising when she was asked to deliver the key note address during the Memorial Day service in the Veterans cemetery last year……Ya know sometimes what your kids give you back is worth everything. I happen to have a transcript here.
The poem we just heard, "In Flanders Field," was written in the spring of 1915 by Canadian Army Surgeon, Major John McCrae. The Major was serving at a battlefield aid station in Belgium during the 1st world War and, like many other traumatized soldiers, was so shaken by the horrible battles and suffering he witnessed that he was inspired to capture the events in writing. From his aide station, cold, alone, and pining for home, he penned the famous poem as he watched the wild red poppies blow through a small cemetery where the recent casualties were buried.
I have been marching in this parade, whether as a Girl Scout and as a member of the Germantown high school band, since I was six-years-old. I’ve heard this poem recited, right here in this cemetery many, many times and last spring I even had the honor of reciting it myself. While practicing “In Flanders Field” at home in the week or so before the parade I started to notice something. Looking over the poem and reading it to myself a few times brought to mind a similar poem, one I became aware of in song form years ago, before I really knew anything about WWI. Written by another eyewitness to the horror that was the First World War, Eric Bogle, "The Green Fields of France" has always touched me personally, but even more in the past few years. The opening lines I now quote:
"Well, how do you do, Private William McBride?Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.And I see by your gravestone you were only 19When you joined the dead heroes in 1915.Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died cleanOr Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?"
Private Willie McBride was only 19… just a year older than me, when he gave his life to the cause. We may never know much about this boy… where he was from or who he really was as a civilian, but he has become a symbol of all the 18, 19, and 20 year old boys who went off to war, which ever war, whether it was WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, or Iraq…young men and women have been going off and dieing in wars since time began. Nothing has changed, from the 19-year-old in 1914 who enlisted to win the war to end all wars to the 19-year-old son of a 9-11 victim almost 90 years later, enlisting in a mall in northern New Jersey.
I quote again from the Green Fields of France
“And I can't help but wonder, now, Willie McBride,Do all those who lie here know why they died?Did you really believe them when they told you the Cause?Did you really believe that this war would end wars?For the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame,The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,For Willie McBride, it all happened again,And again, and again, and again, and again.”
You see, to me, Memorial Day is not about remembering the war…whatever war. We need to remember all those young Americans… all of them forever 19… separated by decades and conflicts but united by the cause. It is up to the history books to record who fought who and why, but it is up to us, the people who reap the benefits, to honor and respect those individuals, living and dead, for their sacrifices. That is why we have memorial day, that is why little girl scouts and boy scouts put flags on graves, why veterans salute, why our town in blanketed in a patriotic swirl of stars and stripes. That is why we’re all gathered here today.
In response to the final verse of "The Green Fields of France", Stephen L. Suffett in 1997, offered this to answer the question….
“Ask the people of Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine,If my life was wasted, if I died in vain.I think they will tell you when all's said and done,They welcomed this boy with his tin hat and gun.
It's easy for you to look back and sigh,And pity the youth of those days long gone by,For us who were there, we knew why we died,And I'd do it again, says Willie McBride.”
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
She Blows me Away!!
Last night was too hot to ride, for me anyway. I came home to the Queen and her court in the pool with the Princess with her entourage not far behind. It’s funny how many friends you have when the pool is open on a hot day. Don’t get me wrong, I like to have folks over, especially if they bring beverages because I can have a couple and not have to drive home. After dinner, I retired to the cool basement and installed the new rims on the Surly…smooth, smooth smooth, nice and true, and oh so shiny! I will road test the rig tonight. Tomorrow is yet another Friday vacation day that will work into a nice 4-day weekend. We expect the family over on Saturday for food, wine and song. I kinda hope that the weather stays nice.
The poem we just heard, "In Flanders Field," was written in the spring of 1915 by Canadian Army Surgeon, Major John McCrae. The Major was serving at a battlefield aid station in Belgium during the 1st world War and, like many other traumatized soldiers, was so shaken by the horrible battles and suffering he witnessed that he was inspired to capture the events in writing. From his aide station, cold, alone, and pining for home, he penned the famous poem as he watched the wild red poppies blow through a small cemetery where the recent casualties were buried.
I have been marching in this parade, whether as a Girl Scout and as a member of the Germantown high school band, since I was six-years-old. I’ve heard this poem recited, right here in this cemetery many, many times and last spring I even had the honor of reciting it myself. While practicing “In Flanders Field” at home in the week or so before the parade I started to notice something. Looking over the poem and reading it to myself a few times brought to mind a similar poem, one I became aware of in song form years ago, before I really knew anything about WWI. Written by another eyewitness to the horror that was the First World War, Eric Bogle, "The Green Fields of France" has always touched me personally, but even more in the past few years. The opening lines I now quote:
"Well, how do you do, Private William McBride?Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.And I see by your gravestone you were only 19When you joined the dead heroes in 1915.Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died cleanOr Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?"
Private Willie McBride was only 19… just a year older than me, when he gave his life to the cause. We may never know much about this boy… where he was from or who he really was as a civilian, but he has become a symbol of all the 18, 19, and 20 year old boys who went off to war, which ever war, whether it was WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, or Iraq…young men and women have been going off and dieing in wars since time began. Nothing has changed, from the 19-year-old in 1914 who enlisted to win the war to end all wars to the 19-year-old son of a 9-11 victim almost 90 years later, enlisting in a mall in northern New Jersey.
I quote again from the Green Fields of France
“And I can't help but wonder, now, Willie McBride,Do all those who lie here know why they died?Did you really believe them when they told you the Cause?Did you really believe that this war would end wars?For the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame,The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,For Willie McBride, it all happened again,And again, and again, and again, and again.”
You see, to me, Memorial Day is not about remembering the war…whatever war. We need to remember all those young Americans… all of them forever 19… separated by decades and conflicts but united by the cause. It is up to the history books to record who fought who and why, but it is up to us, the people who reap the benefits, to honor and respect those individuals, living and dead, for their sacrifices. That is why we have memorial day, that is why little girl scouts and boy scouts put flags on graves, why veterans salute, why our town in blanketed in a patriotic swirl of stars and stripes. That is why we’re all gathered here today.
In response to the final verse of "The Green Fields of France", Stephen L. Suffett in 1997, offered this to answer the question….
“Ask the people of Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine,If my life was wasted, if I died in vain.I think they will tell you when all's said and done,They welcomed this boy with his tin hat and gun.
It's easy for you to look back and sigh,And pity the youth of those days long gone by,For us who were there, we knew why we died,And I'd do it again, says Willie McBride.”
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
She Blows me Away!!
Last night was too hot to ride, for me anyway. I came home to the Queen and her court in the pool with the Princess with her entourage not far behind. It’s funny how many friends you have when the pool is open on a hot day. Don’t get me wrong, I like to have folks over, especially if they bring beverages because I can have a couple and not have to drive home. After dinner, I retired to the cool basement and installed the new rims on the Surly…smooth, smooth smooth, nice and true, and oh so shiny! I will road test the rig tonight. Tomorrow is yet another Friday vacation day that will work into a nice 4-day weekend. We expect the family over on Saturday for food, wine and song. I kinda hope that the weather stays nice.
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