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11.11.11

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Lest We Forget

 

World War I, a.k.a. First World War -

 

The Great War

 

"The War to End All Wars"

 

It was a total war which left millions dead and helped to shape the modern world.

 

At 11:00am on November 11, 1918 —

 

eleventh hour

eleventh day

eleventh month —

 

A ceasefire came into effect and the opposing armies on the Western Front began to withdraw from their positions.

 

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.

 

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

 

 

The poem "In Flanders Fields" by the Canadian army physician John McCrae remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915.

 

"This poem was literally born of fire and blood during the hottest phase of the second battle of Ypres. My headquarters were in a trench on the top of the bank of the Ypres Canal, and John had his dressing station in a hole dug in the foot of the bank. During periods in the battle men who were shot actually rolled down the bank into his dressing station.

Along from us a few hundred yards was the headquarters of a regiment, and many times during the sixteen days of battle, he and I watched them burying their dead whenever there was a lull. Thus the crosses, row on row, grew into a good-sized cemetery.

Just as he describes, we often heard in the mornings the larks singing high in the air, between the crash of the shell and the reports of the guns in the battery just beside us.

I have a letter from him in which he mentions having written the poem to pass away the time between the arrival of batches of wounded, and partly as an experiment with several varieties of poetic metre." Lieutenant Colonel Edward Morrison

 

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Provided by another: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtXO5QDXUbU

 

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Uploaded on November 11, 2008
Taken on November 10, 2008