Sunday, November 11, 2007

Remembrance Day

Spent the morning on Parliament Hill for the services. I have to admit, having lived in both countries there's something about the tone to Remembrance Day compared to Veteran's Day. ... same intent, slightly different execution. For example, the politicians generally shut the hell up, lay their wreaths, and leave the day to the veterans. Also the prevalence of poppies beforehand, on literally every human walking the streets ... seriously. From the elderly to street punks. We should have the poppies in the States. I know some people do it, but it's rare. As a symbol it's more ... human.

In any event, please take a moment today.

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.



And yeah, and the flyover got me crying. Missing man formation gets me every time.

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

These lyrics were found by a nurse in a Naval hospital in the Pacific during WWII. Years later they found their way into the hands of John Gorka, who set them to music:


Let them in, Peter,
They are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires

Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired with the sun
Not wartime's bloody guns

May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die
God knows how young they were to have to die

Give them things they like
Let them make some noise
Give roadhouse bands, not golden harps
To these our boys

And let them love, Peter
'Cause they've had no time
They should have trees and bird songs
And hills to climb

The taste of summer in a ripened pear
And girls sweet as meadow winds
With flowing hair

Tell them how they are missed
And say not to fear
It's gonna be alright
With us down here

Let them in, Peter...


I find those words to be a moving tribute, and expressive of the grief and loss I feel as one who remains while so many worthies are lost. Maybe more so for the anonymous authorship.

Godspeed.

Mike said...

Yes sir, it get me too. And then, to top it off, Stuart McLean had a rerun of a fantastic Remembrance Day show on the 'Vinyl Cafe' that get me crying too.

LuLu said...

I have to say, Rogers, the ceremony was extremely touching this year - just one more reason I love living in Ottawa.

I always tear up during the veterans' march. There's just something about those lovely old gentlemen leading the way down Elgin Street ...

DJ said...

Less we never forget

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
McGill University

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.

Dwight Williams said...

*stands in silence*

Anonymous said...

If I may quote Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est":

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

I'm not as big a fan of "In Flanders Fields" given the rather pro-war sentiment in the 3rd paragraph, contrasting the feeling of waste in the previous two

Anonymous said...

As long as Wilfred Owen is being quoted, let me add my own favorite

ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
-Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Anonymous said...

I always think of John Gray's Billy Bishop Goes to War, which includes this piece:

Look at the names on the statues everywhere you go,
Someone was killed a long time ago.
I remember the faces, I remember the times,
Those were the names of friends of mine.

The statues are old now, and they're fadin' fast.
Something big must have happened 'way in the past.
The names are so faded, you can hardly see,
But the faces are always young to me.

Friends ain't supposed to die 'til they're old,
And friends ain't supposed to die in pain.
No-one should die alone when he is twenty-one,
And livin' shouldn't make you feel ashamed.

Can't believe how young we were back then.
One thing's for sure, we'll never be that young again.
We were daring young men with hearts of gold,
And most of us never got old.

The Minstrel Boy said...

boonie rats, boonie rats
scared but not alone
i finally see my freedom bird
and now i'm going home.


i never felt any pull from the whole patriotism thing, i was not fighting pro patria or any other high minded stuff.

i was fighting for the guys right there around me. i suspect that it is that way back through the ranks of infantry back to the phalanx. politicians can talk of higher moral reasons for fighting but in the line of battle we fought for each other.

sometimes because they owed us money from the last poker game, but still, for each other.

SwimLFS said...

Nick, those lyrics are great, but Gorka's adaptation of them to music makes me want to put him in a headlock. It sounds too much like a college coffee shop arrangement, much to my frustration.

Juancho said...

Never Forget.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Adam. Garrison Keillor made the same sort of comment on Sunday's Prairie Home Companion; we can recognize the sacrifices made by vets without pledging more young lives to be cannon fodder. It was an interesting contrast with the preceding news/commentary coverage of Veteran's Day, which seemed to focus on Vietnam vets and their families who had been ostracized in the seventies. One vet at the memorial in DC talked about having had red paint thrown on him--suspiciously close to the spitting myth.

Rev.Paperboy said...

Death of the Ball Turrent Gunner

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,

And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life

I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.



--Randall Jarrell




and Mike, Stuart goddamned Mclean and the Vinyl goddamned Cafe gets me every goddamned time

http://kevinswoodshed.blogspot.com/2007/11/big-boys-dont-cry.html

Anonymous said...

Found on a improvised marker on the Island of Guadacanal.

When he gets to Heaven
To Saint Peter he will Tell
"Another Marine reporting, Sir,
Who has served his time in Hell."

Anonymous said...

One last one...

Wait For Me

Wait for me, and I will return.
Only truly wait.
Wait while bringing sorrow
The autumn rains come late.
Wait while snow is blowing,
Wait while heat burns haze,
Wait while others cease to wait,
Forgetting yesterdays.
Wait when letters cease to come
From places far away,
Wait, while others tire of waiting
Together day after day.

Wait for me, and I will return.
Wish no good to those you've met
Who tell you, without thinking,
That it is time to forget.
Let my son and mother believe
That I have met my doom,
Let my friends all quit their hopes,
In the fire-lit gloom
Let them drink their bitter wine,
In memoriam...
Wait. Oh, do not hasten
To sit and drink with them.

Wait for me, and I will return,
Despite all death can do.
Let those who didn't wait for me
Say "Just lucky he came through."
Those who didn't wait can't know
How, while battle blazed,
Just by waiting for your own
Me you truly saved.
We will know how I survived
Only just us two:
Simply, you knew how to wait
As no one else could do.

Konstantin Simonov-1941

Anonymous said...

"I have to admit, having lived in both countries there's something about the tone to Remembrance Day compared to Veteran's Day"

Er, that's not terribly surprising. Even though they're on the same day they're not the same holiday. (Hint: the US holiday specifically to commemorate war dead predates Remembrance Day, and isn't in November.)

Anonymous said...

I usually love poetry but if we are quoting, I have to introduce Yosarian's speach to his Italian whore... ok, I won't reprint Catch 22, everyone has referenced very eloquent commentary already. David Wilcox has a very good rendition of "Let them in, Peter." I'll just go and sit in a tree and think of the life sacrificed.

dubjay said...

We used to have poppies in the States. They were sold on streetcorners by disabled veterans.

The custom fell away in the Sixties, I don't know why.

Probably fallout from the Vietnam War.

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Dwight Williams said...

And wouldn't you know it but the spammers drew me back to this entry and the one over at the Woodshed re: Stuart McLean and The Vinyl Cafe. Kevin's still right seven years later about that show. The Dave and Morley Stories, half the time, they will leave you tearing up.

That man is the most ruthless storyteller I've ever had the privilege to hear performing. That is not an insult. Others are as ruthless in their ways, but none are more so.

If you get the chance to see and hear him performing live? You take it. Don't argue. Just take that chance. You will likely end the session in tears, laughter or both.

You will not regret that. Ever.

Whatever you're doing right now, John, do it as well as you can and stay as well as you can while you're doing it.

Best of the Season to you, whatever Name you honour it by.

Dwight Williams said...

As for the ceremonies you spoke of: I hope to return to those in 2015. After the next federal election. I find myself drawn to the Peacekeepers' Monument on Sussex these last couple of years...

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