Memorial Day 2011

When I was growing up Memorial Day was a special day of remembrance to honor those in the armed forces who had given their lives for us.It was no a three day holiday where everyone celebrated time off for a picnic.The tone was set not in deep velvet iris but rather i fields of poppies blowing over graves. It is not hard to understand the change. In the Big One there were over 16 million people in the services and there were over 400,000 deaths. Presently there are 2 million in the volunteer forces and since 2000 there have been 10,000 deaths.We are not engaged as before.My spirit today is with all of us who have served in the past or present and their families with special emphasis on those whose actions and sacrifices large or small have allowed us the sense of security we enjoy.
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 with 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.

John McCrae MD 1872-1918