A day to remember

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Armistice Day, a day designated in our calendar year, an anniversary of a day in 1918 in which the hostilities of World War I ended, a day to remember, November 11.

Imagine that - to live in a far away country, fighting for the freedom of your country with the possibility of never seeing your family or friends again. I can only imagine what it was like. To actually feel myself there is impossible, though many of our fellow men have.

For many years away from home in a foreign land with thoughts of the loved ones you've left behind. Your wife, your beautiful children, your mother and your father, and you constantly think of your wonderful brothers or sisters with whom you've grown up. "Will I ever return home safe?" To be united again, oh what a feeling that must've been, after all those years...what joy.

To be united now with the ones you have left for so long, but again to think of the years you've spent away and those deep and special people with whom you were away. Many of them have also united with their loved ones, many haven't returned.

Out on the battlefield, the earth shaking, a mine blows behind you and you see a good pal being hurled through the air. The sky is filled with scattered aircraft and the rumble begins, only to carry on for hours at a time.

The booby traps, the extensive firing of heavy artillery, the action getting bigger always. An upcoming invasion. "Will I survive" Will my friends survive?"

On the beaches, on the fields we fought our wars, for our country we fought. Many days, many nights of heavy action and heavy fighting and it seemed to last forever, never to end.

We see our friends die. After many years of living side by side, we see our special friends perish. Only to be left there.

Yes, we have lost many a loved ones, our fathers, brothers, etc. And we only hear of the stories, of the accounts they lived and died.

And those who fought, the pain, the agony and the loss they have to live with.

"In Flanders Fields the poppies grow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place;

To reflect on "Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, is to relive and recall these memories of pain, of losing and being lost, and those wonderful people who lie in

Flanders Fields.

"We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, fell, down, saw sunsets glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

in Flanders Fields."

We can only imagine the life they fought, the struggle, the pain and misery of having to fight for their country. To give all they had, a battle fought for us, the courage, the willingness. They offered their heart and soul for the peace and the freedom of their fellow man.

Now they lie in foreign soil in tranquility. Though far from home, they remain close to our hearts as they lie in Flanders Fields.

"Pick up our quarrel with the foe;

to you form 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."

On November 11, Remembrance Day, Lest We Forget!