Happy Veterans Day, Remembrance Day and Thank You to All Who Serve and Have Served!

                                                       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. 

                                                                                                ...Written by John McCrae 

Today is Veterans Day in the United States. A day set aside to honor all those who have served our country honorably in the military - during wartime and peacetime. It is different than Memorial Day, in that it primarily is meant to honor the living and to acknowledge that they too have sacrificed for their country. Remembrance Day is what the Commonwealth of Nations celebrates and in doing so, dons the traditional red poppy on their lapel from Oct. 31 thru Nov.11th. In the United States we honor our veterans on Memorial Day with a red poppy, which had become popular due to the poem In Flanders Field by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. These red poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields in Flanders. 

Thank you to all the veterans for your service, dedication and sacrifice!