11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

The Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium, rest 7,992 of our military dead.

It is Memorial day 2008 and I can’t even begin to put into words the depth of my gratitude, the amount of respect I have, my total appreciation for, and my admiration for all of those who have served in the military, including my Dad.

Those who are serving in the military, and those that payed the ultimate sacrifice so that I can sit behind this keyboard and express my freedom of speech to type out any dumb ass collection of words I want without consequence.

For Memorial Day weekend, the Weekly Photo Tips blog is honoring American soldiers with a beautiful slideshow. WATCH IT

'In Flanders Fields'

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915
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,

flyScarce 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.

STORY OF THE POEM

In Flanders Fields Museum

Remembering the Forgotten in Flanders Fields

Passchendaele: the Flemish village that gave its name to one of war's worst horrors

Ninety years have passed since soldiers fought in the mud of Flanders. But for the people who live in this region, the gardeners who tend the graves, and the people who lead guided tours, the past is still far from forgotten.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, an international organisation set up after World War One to look after the graves of soldiers buried in battlefields scattered across much of Europe. In 1923, the organisation was shipping more than 4,000 headstones a week to meet demand. By 1927, it had created more than 500 cemeteries, 400,000 headstones and 1,000 memorial crosses.

READ FLANDERS TODAY

An Account of the Battle with picture gallery: Fighting in Flanders Fields