11-11-11 2008: Armistice Day Remembered

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.

--by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

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It is the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day. America has largely forgotten that moment of silence, observed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the eleventh month while standing and facing East, in memory of the fallen. Many do remember that the price of freedom is never free, and today we honor the selfless sacrifice of thousands of Americans who gave their all for the Land of the Free.