Veterans Day

[L Verge]

Amen, to all above, including Mr. Lincoln. I am the proud daughter of a military man who served in WWII and Korea -- and who would be extremely sad about what certain parties/people are attempting to do against our country in this day and age.

[Steve]

Thanks to all the veterans and servicemen and women who keep our country safe and fight for freedom!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Quite the historical day as it is also St. Martin's Day and kids carry their lanterns through the streets - the original beginning of Advent and a period of 40 days fasting (Quadragesima Sancti Martini - Saint Martin's Lent) on all days except Saturdays and Sundays from Saint Martin's Day to Epiphany (Feast of the Three Wise Men, Matthew 2: 1-12), later shortened and called "Advent " by the Church. St. Martin was a Roman soldier and known as friend of the children and patron of the poor.

Finally it's a day of abolition - one edict of Baron vom Stein's Prussian reforms liberated all the Prussian peasants by 11 November 1810 at the latest. This edict began the process of abolishing serfdom.

[L Verge]

Surratt House offered free tours this Veterans' Day for all active and retired military personnel and up to four dependents. We had very good attendance and topped off the day with an excellent presentation by Dave Taylor on The Death of Lincoln: Reactions From A Divided Nation, which was also well-attended.

[RJNorton]

To all veterans - THANK YOU for your service!

[Thomas Kearney]

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.

[Gene C]

Thomas, I am glad you posted that beautiful poem.
Here is a song based on those verses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKEynoTwp8

[AussieMick]

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.

(Laurence Binyon)

Lest We Forget.

[ReignetteC]

Thomas,

"In Flanders Fields" is most fitting on this, the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War. Dr. John McCrae, a Canadian physician who served as a brigade-surgeon during WWI, composed the poem in 1915. The following is from poets.org:

In April 1915, McCrae was stationed in the trenches near Ypres, Belgium, in an area known as Flanders, during the bloody Second Battle of Ypres. In the midst of the tragic warfare, McCrae’s friend, twenty-two-year-old Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed by artillery fire and buried in a makeshift grave. The following day, McCrae, after seeing the field of makeshift graves blooming with wild poppies, wrote his famous poem “In Flanders Fields,” which would be the second-to-last poem he would ever write. It was published in England’s Punch magazine in December 1915 and was later included in the posthumous collection In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1919).

The poem is often associated with Memorial Day and the poppy. Canadian students are know to recite this poem annually.

[Jim Garrett]

Lt. Col. John McCrae never returned home from WWI. He died in 1918 of complications of pneumonia. He was serving as the director of a military hospital in France. I work at Arlington National Cemetery and on Armistice Day, saw friend and author Mike Kauffman visiting the cemetery.

[RJNorton]

Thank you for your service to all veterans!

[Steve]

To all those that have served, or are currently in the military - Thanks!

[L Verge]

As the daughter of a veteran of WWII and the Korean conflict, Amen to that. Also, do you know that today marks the 100th anniversary of President Wilson declaring this Armistice Day - which President Eisenhower later changed to Veterans' Day to honor all other veterans? We posted that on the surrattmuseum.org Facebook today.