Apples55 posted:To all who served, my deepest gratitude.
It was called Armistice Day when I was young, in celebration of the end of “The Great War” - at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month... my grandfather served in the Navy in WWI. He always gave us paper poppies for the day (unfortunately, they are not as prevalent as they used to be). A bit off topic, but in case you don’t know why they sell poppies, it was based on a poem by WWI Canadian military physician, Lieutenant Colonel 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.
Thank you for the poem!!
My maternal grandfather served in the Marines during The Great War. My grandmother always referred to the day as Armistice Day. This was my grandfather's second tour with the Marines. Having been born in 1896, he was in The Philippines in 190?. By the time the US entered WWI, he was married had one son, and had been a fireman on the B&O for a number of years. He enlisted again because he told Grandma it was his duty. He suffered a severe back injury in a trench and respiratory injury because of the gas the Germans were using. After 7 years of recovery, he went to work for the B&O for one day, and was declared permanently disabled. My Grandmother did the bulk of the work raising 3 younger children during the Great Depression. Grandpa passed on in 1952, before I was born.
My dad served in the Army during the Korean War, but was sent to the East-West border of Germany. The US and the USSR had bases adjacent to each other while he was there. There were several times the Russians moved their artillery up like they may do something, so the Americans did likewise, then the Russians backed off. It must have been tense, but no shots were ever fired.
The photograph is my dad 3 years ago on the day a brick with his name, branch of service, and years service, was dedicated at the Adams Area War Memorial, Mars, Pennsylvania.
