Happy Armistice / Veteran's Day

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

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.

 

Yes. Remember them all.

It is a little before 8:00 AM on a very rainy and overcast day in Honolulu. There are many dignitaries in town for the APEC conference and a big observance is scheduled for 10:00 AM at Punchbowl. A missing man flyover with four F-22's is scheduled for 11:00 AM.

I am hoping that the weather improves by then.
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Thanks to you, Russ.

 

You got me to thinking and that's getting tougher as the years go by and maybe a bit dangerous for those near by.
Sixty eight years ago I enlisted in the USAAC and by the time I was booted out it was the USAAF. My brother was combat surgeon in WW2 in the Pacific Theater, My number one son was in Vietnam, number two son was in Germany,number 5 son is a captain in the Army and just returned from Afghanistan, his number one son served in Iraq and his number two son has joined the Army.
I wonder if all this will ever stop.

 

Unfortunately, that's human nature. As long as men have drawn breath, they have always have had differences which have not always been settled peacefully. As long as there are evil leaders in the world who would persecute people of their own countries and those of their neighbors, the rest of us have to remain vigilant.

War may be hell, but unfortunately it is also inevitable. And while I have never served in the military, I am proud to have participated in the "industrial" side of the "military/industrial complex" for over 30 years, helping provide our warfighters with the best equipment available.

May God bless America and all the brave men and women who help guard her freedoms.

 

The weather did improve and sun was shining on the somber proceedings. The flyover took a different route than in years past and the "missing man" broke away much, much earlier than normal. I suspect that the route was altered so that the jets did not pass over the APEC site. It is not much of a picture...;>(
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Yes, and they are still at it.

 

What we forget is that it is much too easy to wind the population up and go to war. Way too many American boys dead for nothing is the wauy I see our history for the last 50 years. Six of my friends in the service are on the wall. Died for nothing is my take. the line from Peter Paul and Mary's where have all the flowers gone: when will they ever learn, sticks in my mind.

RIP

Art