JAMIE’S PLACE FOR STUFF

World War I was to be the “War to end all Wars” and still the carnage continues. Still we pause to remember th honored dead and hope the day will arrive that no young man will ever again join their numbers for another “Remembrance Day”, “Armistice Day”, or “Veteran’s Day”.

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.

Lt. Col. John McCrae

Grass

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work–
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.
Carl Sandburg

In Australia and New Zealand, there is another day commemorated with ANZAC Day on April 25. The following video is a stark reminder of not just the dead but all those who return home wounded in mind and/or body who deserve the care of all the citizens who send others to fight their wars.

Never forget what Ataturk, the first president of modern day Turkiye, said about those buried in the cemeteries at Galipoli…”There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, Where they lie side by side here in this country of ours, You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace after having lost their lives on this land, They have become our sons as well.”Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATURK