Happy Memorial Day...

Thank you...

---even more of a tragedy.

Starting with Vietnam.

pretty powerful movie.

I wish we had a "buddy list" here at the DU, it would make it much easier to read all of your comments.

That is very kind of you...

I respect all who serve us in the military and honor their sacrifices. It still gripes me to death that some of those sacrifices were in the "pre-emptive" war in Iraq. It makes me sick that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and the rest killed, wounded and damaged so many of our military for a blatant lie. I think our best thank you to the military is to oppose all "wars of convenience."

Thank you for your very intelligent remarks.

I think we agree that the best way to honor our veterans is to strive for peace.

No more wars. Peace to you and yours this Memorial Day!

Kath1

for this thoughtful graphic. May you have a wonderful Memorial Day.

It touched me deeply, and I wanted to share it ...

a tradition which seems to be falling by the wayside, I fear. When I was a kid, displaying those vet-made poppies was practically required adornment for us and my mother would always insist that we keep them pinned on for days after Memorial Day, til they had become tattered and practically disintegrated. As much as I hate our government and all of the wars that it deems "necessary", I still always make sure to find a poppy to wear on this day. It's my quiet way of honoring my own family's military service of the past, remembering my dear daddy, the three long years he spent away from us, and the handfuls of little poppies that he'd bring home for us, for years afterward.


In Flanders Fields

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army


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.

Thank you for posting it.

So beautiful.

And thanks to YOU, for this thread.

That poem invariably makes me think of my grandma, who used to recite it for community picnics and other local doins where she lived, as an amateur elocutionist. Tho she passed way back in 1955, I can still hear her voice in that piece. For that reason, the poem has always been special to me, too.