Remembrance Day 2006

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.

 

Thanks, Buck. Missed it.

Just watched the Remembrance Day ceremony on Parliament Hill. As always, very moving stuff.

There are three Canadian veterans of WW1 still alive--average age is 106.

The majority of Canadians want a state funeral when the last remaining one dies.

 

JR -- Anytime you want to quote the walls of the Montreal locker room in the old Forum, it's OK by me.

 

All 3 deserve one.

 

Pretty much everybody at our local Royal Canadian Legion branch today felt the same.

Smokey Smith, our last Victoria Cross winner, died last year and, appropriately, got a state funeral. But he was outlived by Big Jim Stone, my father's old commanding officer, a man Dad always thought should have won the VC for the Battle of Kapyong in Korea. He had to settle for winning the Distinguished Service Order (the second highest award for gallantry) for the third time.

Stone must have been quite a guy. He enlisted as a private at the start of World War Two and was a lieutenant-colonel by the end. He made full colonel in Korea.

 

Scripps-Howard just did a story on the remaining U.S. WWI vets -- there are 12 left, including 1 woman.
Youngest is 105. Oldest is 111 or 112.
I can't comprehend being that old.
It's a great piece, if I can find the link, I'll post it.

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061110-shns-vets.html

 

Odds are, neither can they.

*rim shot*

Sorry. :-\

 

Here's a story about a 105-year-old WWI veteran who lives near St. Louis. He's not your typical veteran, though -- his leader was Kaiser William II.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/0FB91E8BD8391F3686257223005FD164?OpenDocument