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My Memmorial Day Tribute

Taps or Tattoo
The French had a bugle call as a reminder to the troops to take their last drink of the day and head for their tents where they would hear the last bugle call for “lights out”. That first call was known as a “taptoe” (tap or plug the keg) and sounded similar to Taps as we know it. That became “tattoo”. In older literature, when we see the word tattoo in reference to a soldier, it has nothing to do with a mark on the body, but the early “Taps” to end the day.
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In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae

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.

This poem was written in World War I by a Canadian doctor who had served in several conflicts. The most gruesome battle he’d ever witnessed inspired this tribute.
Flanders fields was a place in Belgium where poppies grew in the ditches throughout the burial grounds. Men of many nations were buried there.
The poem has been printed in many languages and is used extensively in Canadian military publications. It was the most popular poem of WWI but transcends that time and conflict. Its universal appeal has made it the poem of the American Veterans.

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Although paper poppies originally were designed as a memorial to the military dead, these little poppies for the lapel have been made by the wounded and disabled since the 1920’s. The profit helps those same men. Today it is still cheaper to make them by hand by these volunteers than by machine.
Buy a poppy whenever you can. It honors the dead and helps the living.

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Thanks to all those who have fallen fighting for their country. They fought for what they believed in and served their country with the ultimate sacrifice. We will not forget them. May we continue forward with nobility and courage to defend our nation to the best of our abilities wherever life finds us.