Please spare two minutes today, and join me in remembering the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.
This music video is a poignant reminder of its value and makes me cry every time I watch it.
A Pittance of Time by Terry Kelly
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 Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up your quarrel with the foe;
To you from falling 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.
(written by Liet.-Col. John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer serving at Ypres)
An American woman, Miss Moina Michael, wrote We Shall Keep the Faith in response and wore a red poppy as a way to keep faith with the war dead. She later proposed the idea of selling poppies to raise funds to help ex-serviceman, a tradition continued to this day.