Geez! Just think about what those folks DID for us!

[Pintgudge]

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.

— John McCrae (1872-1918)


SOLDIER’S THINGS

Tom Waits


Davenports and kettle drums
and swallow tail coats
table cloths and patent leather shoes
bathing suits and bowling balls
and clarinets and rings
and all this radio really
needs is a fuse
a tinker, a tailor
a soldiers things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything’s a dollar in this box

Cuff links and hub caps
trophies and paperbacks
it’s good transportation
but the brakes aren’t so hot
neck tie and boxing gloves
this jackknife is rusted
you can pound that dent out
on the hood
a tinker, a tailor
a soldiers things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
oh and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything’s a dollar in this box



No Man's Land

by Eric Bogle, performed by The Cutters

Well, how do you do young Willie McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
Rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun
I been walkin all day, and I'm nearly done

I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
when you joined the great fallen in 1916
I hope you died well, and I hope you died clean
or young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene

Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sound Last Post in chorus
Did the pipes play The Flowers of The Forest

Did you leave e'er a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithfull heart, is your mem'ry enshrined
Although you died back in 1916
In that faithfull heart, are you forever nineteen

Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed in forever behind a glass pane
In an old photograph, torn battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drum slowly, did the play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sound Last Post in chorus
Did the pipes play The Flowers of the Forest

Now the sun's shining down on the green fields of France
There's a warm summer's breeze, it makes the red poppys dance
Look how the sun shines from under that cloud
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now

but here in this graveyard it's still no mans land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To mans blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that was butchered and damned

Did they beat the drums slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sound Last Post in chorus
Did the pipes play The flowers of the Forest

Oh young Willie McBride I can't help wondrin' why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
And did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars

Well the sorrow,the suffering ,the glory, the pain
The killing, and dying were all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles sound Last Post in chorus
Did the pipes play The Flowers of the Forest

Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down
Did the bugles play Last Post in chorus
Did the pipes play The Flowers of the Forest