Armistice Day

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.

This poem was written by a Canadian doctor, Lt Col John McCrae in 1915 shortly after a friend was killed in Ypres, and it was inspired by the sight of thousands of poppies flourishing amidst all the destruction and chaos of the battlefield. The poem inspired an American academic, Moina Michael, to make and sell red silk poppies, some of which were brought to England by a French woman, Anna Guérin. The British Legion (now the Royal British Legion) was formed in 1921 and bought 9 million of these poppies and sold them on 11 November that year, the proceeds being used to help WW1 veterans. The idea mushroomed from there and today millions of pounds are raised each year by the Royal British Legion for veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants.

Today, 11 November 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day in 1918 which brought an end to the First World War. Four years ago, between 17 July and 11 November 2014, to commemorate the start of that War in 1914 the moat at the Tower of London was gradually filled with a total of 888,248 ceramic poppies, each one representing a British or Colonial soldier who died in the First World War. Since then two segments of the display, the 'Weeping Window' and the 'Wave' have been taken on tours of various places in the United Kingdom, and from 8 September to 25 November 2018 the 'Wave' was scheduled to be displayed at the Imperial War Museum North in Trafford, Manchester, adjacent to Salford Quays.

This is a photograph I took of the 'Wave' outside the Imperial War Museum North. 

When you go home

tell them of us

and say

"For your tomorrow,

   we gave our today."