In honor of Armistice Day / Remembrance Day / Veterans Day, I’ve created a commemorative compilation poem from the words of The Army’s Poets*. I selected these poems, verses and excerpts from The Stars and Stripes newspaper, published in France by the American Expeditionary Forces of the United States Army from February 8, 1918 to June 13, 1919.
We Remember.
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Why Is It?
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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.
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1. Unknown. “A Cootie’s Garden of Verses.” The Stars and Stripes, April 26, 1918, American Expeditionary Forces, Paris, France, 1918-1919.
2. Unknown. “Tomorrow.” The Stars and Stripes, May 3, 1918.
3. A Member of the A. E. F. “Our Best Pal.” [Excerpt: We soldiers live in the present.] The Stars and Stripes, September 6, 1918.
4. Unknown. “Things We Used To Beef About III.” The Stars and Stripes, May 3, 1918.
5. Unknown. “Why Is It?” [Excerpt: You suddenly discover that you don’t care about her at all.] The Stars and Stripes, March 22, 1918.
6. F. P. A.. Untitled. [Strawberry Short Cake] The Stars and Stripes, April 19, 1918.
7. H. J. L.. “Your Soldier.” The Stars and Stripes, November 22, 1918.
8. Harv. “Have You?” The Stars and Stripes, October 18, 1918.
9. McCrae, John. “In Flanders Fields.” May 1915.
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* The Stars and Stripes newspaper featured soldier-authored material. “The Army’s Poets” column appeared May 3, 1918 and became the newspaper’s most widely read column. Soldiers submitted more than seventy-five thousand poems and many not selected for publication by The Stars and Stripes were published after the war.
For more information see Library of Congress Collection: Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers’ Newspaper of World War I, 1918 to 1919.
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Great post — thank you to all the veterans.
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Thanks, Mike. I’m glad you like it.
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I do. Well done. Today is an important day to me and I’m thrilled to see your post honestly.
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As I was preparing this piece I felt it was important because nobody from WWI is among us anymore. Remembering is more important than ever.
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The best of a bunch of really good Veteran’s Day posts.
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Thank you so much.
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I have tears in my eyes…
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I was very moved reading through The Stars and Stripes newspaper issues searching for poetry. The advice columns, articles, news pieces, advertisements, and poetry brought me back to a moment in time. I could almost hear their voices.
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Thank you for sharing these!
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It was like a treasure hunt. A moving treasure hunt. Thank you for reading.
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Thank you for these.
Wonderful. Sad. Poignant. Fitting.
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Thank you for reading.
Finding them was all of that and they became real for me.
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Great job!
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Thank you!
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Hear hear! Thank you for sharing all of these significant poems.
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Thank you for reading. They are significant and give a snapshot into their lives and experiences — the everyday-ness mixed in with the extreme, as well as the universality. Selecting just a few and narrowing down the focus was a challenge.
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A challenge which you overcame very well.
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Thanks. I appreciate that.
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Wonderful, Danica. Great work pulling these together.
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Thank you, J. I wanted to keep going and read everything. I’d like to find the 75,000 poems that were submitted to the newspaper. Some of these pieces weren’t submitted as poems and didn’t appear in “The Army’s Poets” column, but elsewhere in the paper, so there’s even more that that out there.
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Thanks for sharing these Danica
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Thanks for reading, Geoff. I’m happy that you like them.
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Reblogged this on Looking For The Light Blog and commented:
Thanks Danica, I can’t think of a more important way to show the reality and the sense of humor the guys had. Of course the great sadness of the dead in Flanders Field.
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Thanks very much, M. I’m glad you picked up on all that. I’ll think of them if I come across strawberry shortcake. The conditions were so severe that it’s always sad no matter how many times we revisit history.
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