For Memorial Day

D

David Schmidbauer

Retired Screen Name
For Memorial Day. It will ALWAYS stand for those who have gone before and gave their all. Have a great holiday, during which, take a moment to remember and reflect.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
John McCrae [1872-1918]

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 blow
In Flanders fields.

Semper Fidelis!

------------------
Schmit, GySgt, USMC(Ret)
NRA Life, Lodge 1201-UOSSS
"Si vis Pacem Para Bellum"
 
Thanks Gunny,

I am going to Belgium in 2 weeks for business and I am hoping to get to Flanders Fields and Bastogne.

Thanks for reminding us.

Tom

former Army M1 armor crewman MOS 19K
 
AMERICA’S ANSWER

Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead.
The fight that ye so bravely led
We’ve taken up. And we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep
In Flanders fields.

Fear not that ye have died for naught.
The torch ye threw to us we caught.
Ten million hands will hold it high,
And Freedom’s light shall never die!
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders fields.

R. W. Lilliard
 
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it; And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform; So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert; He’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him; Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil? How many mothers’ tears?

I heard the sound of taps one night; When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play; And felt a sudden chill.

I thought of all the children; Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands; With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard; at the bottom of the sea.
Of unmarked graves in Arlington; No, freedom is not free.

- Cadet Major Kelly Strong, Air Force Junior ROTC
Homestead Senior High School, Homestead, Fla., 1988
(Found in “Dear Abby”; San Antonio Express-News 5/26/97, pg 10C)
 
Q. Who was the first American of record to die in the Vietnam War?

A. Air Force Tech Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. 6/8/1956.
His son, Marine Lance Cpl Richard B. Fitzgibbon, III, was KIA in Vietnam 9/7/1965.

-Article by L.M. Boyd; San Antonio Express-News; 2/18/99, Pg 8F
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top