Dedicated to all who served . . .
It's Veterans Day, and I'm giving a salute to all who served over the next three days. I'm starting today by posting images from most of the wars of American history. Before moving on, take a moment to read the lines below from a song that profoundly affected me as a high school senior:
Say a prayer for the common foot soldierSpare a thought for his back breaking workSay a prayer for his wife and his childrenWho burn the fires and who still till the earth
Raise your glass to the hard working peopleLet's drink to the uncounted deadLet's think of the wavering millionsWho need leaders, but get gamblers instead
From "Salt of the Earth" by Jagger-Richards on the 1968 album Beggars Banquet.
Love that song.
ReplyDeleteIt is Armistice Day in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations, commemorating the signing at Compiègne on the 11th hour of the 11th month of 1918 that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I.
ReplyDeleteThe Exhortation
'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.'
The Exhortation is an extract from a poem written by Robert Laurence Binyon called "For the Fallen", and published in The Times newspaper on 21st September ,1914.
The Kohima Epitaph
'When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, we gave our today.'
The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Greeks who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC.
The Kohima Epitaph is carved on the Memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery of Kohima (North-East India), which saw action against the Japanese in World War II.
Thanks for the great references, Julian. I have a deep appreciation for The Exhortation which I've quoted in a previous memorial series.
ReplyDelete