Memorial Day

~ Live & Learn

When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today

— John Maxwell Edmonds

Notes:

  • Photo: Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Belgium by Ralph Morse published in TimeLife Magazine in 1946.
  • This verse (The Kohima Epitaph) is engraved on the Memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery of Kohima (North-East India). The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides of Ceos to honour the Greeks who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC. (Source: British Legion). Thank you Beth for sharing.

22 thoughts on “Memorial Day”

  1. By a really weird coincidence (?) I re-read Julian Barnes‘ EVERMORE yesterday evening, after returning from a splendid rendition of THE BEATLES, the musical during the late afternoon! In Evermore the widow of an English soldier visits the war memorial places in the North of France. She has inner discussions, disagreements and thoughts on everything, everyone, but especially regarding her husband… she doesn‘t agree with the inscriptions on the marble altars (French and English written ones) and even writes to the respective commissioners. She disagrees with Rudyard Kipling‘s inscription on the site in Bayeux: Their Names Liveth Forever – she feels it should be FOR EVER….
    I kept this small Penguin booklet because I love Julian Barnes‘ writing but did in no way realise that it was the ‚memorial weekend‘ – coincidence? I don‘t think so. In German it says ZUFALL, es fällt einem etwas zu – hence, a word play which only works in Germen: Something falls to you. Lots to ponder – especially after a 2 1/2hrs of sheer joy, exuberance, singing along, and taking part in the Beatles lives.

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      1. I wrote it last week, like Thursday or so and it’s disappointing. I am so naive at times. I want to believe Americans care about the people and families who give it their all to the military. If we as a country can’t acknowledge and give thanks for the freedoms we have, then what? It’s one of those days. I was sick yesterday it lingers today. There were many times throughout my life I was out of touch, drunk, addicted, abused….but at my core I always believed in America. I don’t care how many attack us, this is where I want to live.

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