today is Rememberance Day in Canada. Today I remember my grandfather who fought in World War II and Korea. He landed in England and despite a war going on, he fell in love with my grandmother. Later he fought during the liberation of Italy where he was shot but lived.
The war over and now home, my grandfather got a few short years of respite before being shipped off to Korea. War changes a man, and despite being a loving husband, father and grandfather, he remained haunted as if he were always looking through the windows of his past. So although I did not know him well, I still respected him and his sacrifices.
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.
