Veteran's Day

Lest We Forget

"In Flanders Fields"
John McCrae

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.

A poem written by John McCrae in 1915, a Canadian who served as a surgeon in WW1 and at the Second Battle of Ypres, most associated with our Remembrance Day observances and by several other nations of the Commonwealth. On a side note, John Philips Sousa wrote his "In Flanders Fields The Poppies Grow" in 1918 using this poem as it's lyrics. It is this poem where we use the poppy as our symbol of remembrance.

Other countries including the Commonwealth and the US, mark this day as Armistice Day which recognizes the end of hostilities of WW1 in conjunction to Remembrance and Veterans Day.