Remembrance Day
2009 November 11
A Soldier’s Cemetery
Behind that long and lonely trenched line
To which men come and go, where brave men die,
There is a yet unmarked and unknown shrine,
A broken plot, a soldier’s cemetery.
There lie the flower of youth, the men who scorn’d
To live (so died) when languished Liberty:
Across their graves flowerless and unadorned
Still scream the shells of each artillery.
Then war shall cease this lonely unknown spot
Of many a pilgrimage will be the end,
And flowers will shine in this now barren plot
And fame upon it through the years descend:
But many a heart upon each simple cross
Will hang the grief, the memory of its loss.
–Sergeant John William Streets, 12th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, killed in action, the Somme, 1 July 1916.
Lest we forget.
Thank you, this entry is really appreciated.
Wonderful — we need to always remember and honor those who have sacrificed for our freedoms and those serving today, also.
I’m curious though – we just observed Veteran’s Day (formerly called WWI Armistice Day) here in the States. Is that what you observed in Scotland? Do you call it that?
November 11 is Remembrance Day in the UK and in Canada. It, like Veteran’s Day, marks the armistice that ended the fighting of the first world war.
November 11 is also called Remembrance Day in Australia.
RIP to all the lost boys. In particular Flight Lieutenant Dave Williams, a good lad, even for aircrew.
Posts from previous years that you might find interesting…
‘There’s a broken battered body on the wire’
The mixed fortunes of one man’s war
Lest we forget
Remembering those who fell in the Second Boer War
Theres some wonderful poetry out there. This one was written recently by Staff Sergeant Andrew Macfarlane of the TA. He’d just witnessed the repatriation of a number of dead, and was written in just a few hours, and as such I think captures the thoughts I had at exactly such a moment:
Sunset Vigil
The news is spread far and wide
Another comrade has sadly died
A sunset vigil upon the sand
As a soldier leaves this foreign land
We stand alone, and yet as one
In the fading light of a setting sun
We’ve all gathered to say goodbye
To our fallen comrade who’s set to fly
The eulogy’s read about their life
Sometimes with words from pals or wife
We all know when the CO’s done
What kind of soldier they’d become
The padre then calls us all to pray
The bugler has Last Post to play
The cannon roars and belches flame
We will recall, with pride, their name
A minute’s silence stood in place
As tears roll down the hardest face
Deafening silence fills the air
With each of us in personal prayer
Reveille sounds and the parade is done
The hero remembered, forgotten by none
They leave to start the journey back
In a coffin draped in the Union Jack