Veterans Day 2009 Plus 7 Days

One more post to Veterans Day. Sheet music to George M. Cohan's 1917 song, Over There proclaims that "we won't come back till it's over Over there." Hear all three versions of the recorded song at this web site. Click the player at the top of the page to hear each artist.

In 1940 George Cohan was presented with a Congressional medal honoring him as the creator of "Over There." Cohan remains the only American composer to receive such an award. Know that.

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Veterans Day 2009 Plus 6 Days

For years I have looked at this statue, ultimately forging a memory. Recently I again remembered this soldier positioned on a corner, part of four military effigies chiseled into a stone monument. Perhaps Veterans Day six days ago jarred that distant impression or unearthed some mnemonic threads of location, time and place.

What seems appropriate is to tie the monument to those who served their countries. Lt. Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army wrote one of the most famous World War I poems, after experiencing war first hand at the battle of Ypres. His words became the catalyst to remember the war dead internationally and serves to symbolically link the thoughts by wearing a red poppy. Know that.

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.

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Veterans Day 2009: Thank You Over There From Over Here

Ninety-one years ago today the war to end all wars — ended. In 2009 we pause to honor all veterans who served our country and those who are actively defending our freedoms today.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 Germany signed the armistice with the Allied Powers — including the U.S., France, Britain, Japan and Italy — ending major hostilities and proclaiming the end to World War I. Know that.

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