November 11, 2023
Today, we observe Veterans Day, which marks the Armistice that ended World War 1. The treaty was signed on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:11 a.m. World War I saw 20 million deaths, military and civilian, and 21 million wounded. One of the most famous poems written about that war was “In Flanders Field” by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, who composed it after his close friend was killed and buried in a makeshift grave. Wild poppies had begun to flower between the graves. Flanders Fields was an English name for the battlefields in France and Belgium.
In Flanders Fields
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.
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