Milsurp After Hours

For the 11th of November.................

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........

Here's a WW I story that I heard a few times, over the years, from my mother; she like thousands of others corresponded with a Digger in France.

I don't know his name other than his first, which was Gordon; there is a tantalizing post card that tells her of a change of address but it doesn't have his name.
He was batman/altar server and, I guess, bodyguard to a Catholic Padre and after the Armistice had come into effect he was shot dead as he and the Padre emerged from a trench that they had just checked to see if everyone was out.

He was probably shot by a German who just wanted to kill one more Brit whilst there was a chance.
--------------------------------
How close my mother and Gordon had become I'll never know but one Armistice Day, when I was home on leave, I remarked to my dad that mum was thinking of Gordon and dad said, as if speaking of an old friend, "If Gordon hadn't been killed he might have been your father".

http://www.1914.org/podcasts/

If you visit this page of the First World War Centenary Site you can hear recordings of veterans talking about various aspects of the conflict, set out in 'podcasts' To date there are some 25 available.

Centenary Plans Revealed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/brit ... ealed.html

Your Country Needs You' - The myth about the First World War poster that 'never existed'

Here is a very interesting piece................

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/worl ... isted.html

REMEMBRANCE BEGINS..................

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2 ... -memorial/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... orial.html

Sacred soil imported to the UK? With a full dress parade too? Could this be the start of something? Want some Bunker Hill dirt? How about Normandy beach sand? What about Waterloo? What about Rorke's drift from the Anglo-Zulu War? The UK should have no end of possible sacred soil ceremonies. Although some soils would be pretty bad choices for planting gardens, I'd think. Maybe as a last resort........ any soil could still be the basis for a rock garden. Wonder if it will catch on in the US after England gets a good start on showing us how to do it? ...... I hope not.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

A. Lincoln.

Seems to me that you have missed the point here Robert. It is a symbol of Remembrance that is being carried out by this generation in honour of those who died in Flanders during WWI.

"Over the summer of 2013, 1,000 schoolchildren from Belgium and Britain filled sandbags with soil from each of the 70 First World War Commonwealth War Grave cemetries and battlefields in Flanders"

The British Army suffered 564,715 deaths in this region during WWI, 512,647 being battle casualties as opposed to disease or injury.

Bunker Hill, the battle fought between the United Colonies and the British Crown both sides suffered a total of 341 deaths although the British also suffered a large number of wounded, some 828!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bunker_Hill

Sorry, Duncan. I apologize for my observation. If importing cemetery dirt is a meaningful symbol of gratitude for and remembrance of the slaughtered British soldiers in WWI who am I to speak a word against it.

This link http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/worl ... world-war/ takes you to a page on the Daily Telegraph where you can view and download a PDF series about the conflict. It's free.