Happy Veterans Day!

[TatianaSummer]

Wishing all a happy Vetarans Day! Anyone else doing something special today?
I might go to Nellis Airforce Base for Aviation Nation Air Show here in Vegas and then going to a Veterans Day Dinner that I was invited.
I hope they have garlic mash potatoes!!! :dancing:

[danthepoetman]

I join my voice to yours, lovely Tatiana. All the best to the veterans on this day, who fought for us to live a better life and made such sacrifices for the common goods!

[TatianaSummer]

I join my voice to yours, lovely Tatiana. All the best to the veterans on this day, who fought for us to live a better life and made such sacrifices for the common goods!

I second that! wink!

[Cecil Rhodes]

Golden Corral nor Outback would give my dog a free meal .

[TatianaSummer]

And yes I am a veteran too, at least thats what is says on my Profile next to my avatar. "Veteran Poster" :party:

[Prospero]

It is Remembrance Day here in London. A time to honour the men of women of all nations who've fought and sacrificed in pursuit of peace.

This is an English poem - hence the reference to England but it is internationally applicable.

For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

[youngblood61]

God Bless are Veterans!:Bowdown::Bowdown:

[Prospero]

And more recently this by Britain's present poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. (It references the most famous work by the world war one poet Wilfred Owen who was killed in that conflict - Anthem For Doomed Youth)

PASSING BELLS

That moment when the soldier's soul
slipped through his wounds, seeped
through the staunching fingers of his friend
then, like a shadow, slid across a field
to vanish, vanish, into textless air . . .
there would have been a bell in Perth,
Llandudno, Bradford, Winchester,
rung by a landlord in a sweating, singing pub
or by an altar-boy at Mass - in Stoke-on-Trent,
Leicester, Plymouth, Crewe, in Congresbury,
Littleworth - an ice-cream van jingling in a park;
a door pushed open to a jeweller's shop;
a songbird fluttering from a tinkling cat - in Ludlow,
Wolverhampton, Taunton, Hull - a parish church
chiming out the hour; the ringing end of school -
in Wigan, Caythorpe, Peterborough, Ipswich,
Inverness, King's Lynn, Malvern, Leeds -
a deskbell in a quiet, dark hotel; bellringers' practice
heard by Sunday cricketers; the first of midnight's bells
at Hogmanay - in Birkenhead, Motherwell, Rhyl -
there would have been a bell
in Chester, Fife, Bridgend, Wells, Somerton,
Newcastle, in city and in town and countryside -
the crowded late night bus; a child's bicycle;
the old, familiar, clanking cow-bells of the cattle.


Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen


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 goodbyes.
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.

[SmithXXX]

I'm a Veteran of the first Gulf War (pic below, me giving the peace sign...lol), and I too would like to thank all the veterans (past, present & future) for serving our great nation.

Semper Fi
USMC - Force Recon

[TatianaSummer]

I'm a Veteran of the first Gulf War (pic below, me giving the peace sign...lol), and I too would like to thank all the veterans (past, present & future) for serving our great nation.

Semper Fi
USMC - Force Recon

nice! Thank you for serving and posting your picture.

[danthepoetman]

Great poems, Prospero!
I'll also slip a poem I love, by John MacRae...


Flanders’s Fields
John McCrae, 1919

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.

[Prospero]

Good for you Yogi. This day should honour brave servicemen and women of the US, UK and all other nations who died in the cause of peace and a better world.

[dunkiex]

I am a veteran of the army and navy. Spent most of my time doing patrols on ballistic missile subs, and did not receive an order to launch on Pakistan! (new TV show Last Resort). I think it is important to note that some of our Hung Angels served our country. It is often difficult enough as it is without having to try to hide your true being. So, ladies that have served, thank you.

Duncan

[95racer]

Big thank you to all who served. I make sure to thank any vet in public.

Calls will be made to family and friends who are vets. These guys & gals are the real heros.

[Cecil Rhodes]

Both myself and my Dog are Navy Vets .

[Jericho]

For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Nice to see the complete poem, rather than just the fourth verse.

Good luck everybody - Blackadder - BBC - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM&feature=related)

[Cecil Rhodes]

Let us not forget there are 7 Uniform Services in the United States of America .

[robertlouis]

About ten years ago I bought a second-hand book of poetry - an early edition of Time's Laughingstocks, by Thomas Hardy. There was a hand-written dedication on the title page, which read "To My Dearest Jane, Respectfully, William, May 1916." That was two months before the appalling slaughter on the Somme, when on the first day, 1st July 1916, the British Army suffered its worst ever day, with over 60,000 casualties. Later, when I took the book home and opened it, a tiny and beautifully detailed piece of lace fell out. I wondered what, if any, the significance of that might be and then discovered that in those days only the wealthy could afford a big white wedding. Mill girls (I bought the book in Lancashire) would simply trim up their best blouse with lace and wear that on their wedding day. Three days later I had this song, Unfinished Lace, dedicated to all the Williams and Janes and the boys who never came home. And yes, I did have that piece of lace in my hand this Sunday morning at our local remembrance parade. It's my best-known and most-requested song and it just seemed the right thing to share on this day of days.

Unfinished Lace

1. It's just a white lace fragment, a pale glimpse of the past
Held fast between the pages of a book
And each stitch breathes the grieving of a love that was lots
So hard that it hurts me just to look
They were bound to be wed that second summer of the war
In the sunshine on the first day of July
But that dawn on the Somme
The whistles sounded, he was gone
And on that day that promised joy her life's love died

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

2. When the telegram arrived, she was working on the lace
The trimming for the dress she was to wear
She put down her hook, closed the lace inside her book
Turned her back forever on lacemaker's wares
And the blinds were drawn down tight through those sunny summer days
They stayed down through the winter and the rain
Two more summers were to pass, before the boys came home at last
And she'd smile to hide her emptiness again

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

3. And the old clock on the mantel chimed the long years as they grew
They built a cross for all the dead boys on the green
And each first of July, she would ask the heavens why
Kiss the lace and dream of all that should have been
Ninety years, another war, more names upon the green
A quiet death to follow silent life
I hold her lace tight in my hand and listen to the band
As the old men march to put an end to strife

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

Coda: Promise unbroken, the lace a token
Something to remember love gone by
As I hold unfinished lace
And in the silence see her face
Till the bugles call old love up to the skies

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

(c) 2004, 2009

[uchetal]

Thank you veterans for your service!

[EvaCassini]

Im a veteran. US Navy GunnersMate Petty Officer 3rd class. Stationed in Yokosuka Japan on the USS Fitzgerald DDG 62 :)

[danthepoetman]

Im a veteran. US Navy GunnersMate Petty Officer 3rd class. Stationed in Yokosuka Japan on the USS Fitzgerald DDG 62 :)
You must be amongst the loveliest veterans there are, Eva. :)

[danthepoetman]

Beautiful song, and beautiful story, Robert Louis! Very moving.


About ten years ago I bought a second-hand book of poetry - an early edition of Time's Laughingstocks, by Thomas Hardy. There was a hand-written dedication on the title page, which read "To My Dearest Jane, Respectfully, William, May 1916." That was two months before the appalling slaughter on the Somme, when on the first day, 1st July 1916, the British Army suffered its worst ever day, with over 60,000 casualties. Later, when I took the book home and opened it, a tiny and beautifully detailed piece of lace fell out. I wondered what, if any, the significance of that might be and then discovered that in those days only the wealthy could afford a big white wedding. Mill girls (I bought the book in Lancashire) would simply trim up their best blouse with lace and wear that on their wedding day. Three days later I had this song, Unfinished Lace, dedicated to all the Williams and Janes and the boys who never came home. And yes, I did have that piece of lace in my hand this Sunday morning at our local remembrance parade. It's my best-known and most-requested song and it just seemed the right thing to share on this day of days.

Unfinished Lace

1. It's just a white lace fragment, a pale glimpse of the past
Held fast between the pages of a book
And each stitch breathes the grieving of a love that was lots
So hard that it hurts me just to look
They were bound to be wed that second summer of the war
In the sunshine on the first day of July
But that dawn on the Somme
The whistles sounded, he was gone
And on that day that promised joy her life's love died

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

2. When the telegram arrived, she was working on the lace
The trimming for the dress she was to wear
She put down her hook, closed the lace inside her book
Turned her back forever on lacemaker's wares
And the blinds were drawn down tight through those sunny summer days
They stayed down through the winter and the rain
Two more summers were to pass, before the boys came home at last
And she'd smile to hide her emptiness again

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

3. And the old clock on the mantel chimed the long years as they grew
They built a cross for all the dead boys on the green
And each first of July, she would ask the heavens why
Kiss the lace and dream of all that should have been
Ninety years, another war, more names upon the green
A quiet death to follow silent life
I hold her lace tight in my hand and listen to the band
As the old men march to put an end to strife

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

Coda: Promise unbroken, the lace a token
Something to remember love gone by
As I hold unfinished lace
And in the silence see her face
Till the bugles call old love up to the skies

Chorus: Unfinished lace, unwritten pages
One life where there should have been much more
Time's lines are written on her face, a life of blameless grace
A life undone, unfinished lace

(c) 2004, 2009

[robertlouis]

Beautiful song, and beautiful story, Robert Louis! Very moving.

Thanks Dan. The First World War is very fecund songwriting soil for me - eight so far plus one on the American Civil War, another on WW2 and yet another on the Gulf War. As I said elsewhere, all my songs are fairly sad. Nobody dances at my gigs, but I do have the Samaritans standing by.....:(

[Cecil Rhodes]

Im a veteran. US Navy GunnersMate Petty Officer 3rd class. Stationed in Yokosuka Japan on the USS Fitzgerald DDG 62 :)

Destroyer Squadron 15 eh ?

[EvaCassini]

yep :)

[Cecil Rhodes]

surface navy correct ?

[TatianaSummer]

Both myself and my Dog are Navy Vets .

Happy Veterans day Cecil, Thanks for your service!