11th Month 11th Day 11th Hour

This is the day that ended the war to end all wars....although the true end of the war did not come until a year later, this day marked the "end of hostilities"....semantics in a war that most folks do not understand.

One of the reasons that the US military is in Iraq and Afghanistan right now is a direct result of the actions taken on this day in 1917. After the war, England had the upper hand - what with the Russians revolting and the French broken. The English carved up the Middle East (destroyed Ottoman Empire) into some of the same "countries" we see today. Iraq was created by some British general drawing a line in the sand where there had been no line previously. Those people did not appreciate it then...and they don't appreciate it now.

This was the war that brought us doughboys (which my great grandfather was), the British Tommys, the story of Gallipoli....one of the most troubling pieces of literature I read in my youth, Johnny Got His Gun....3rd ID's Rock of the Marne....the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetary.....

So many changes to society came about as a result of this war....and most people would be hard pressed to explain what it was all about in the first place....the BBC does a good job, as does WIKI....

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 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.