THE VILLAGE TIMES

POPPIES

   Poppies are important to Veteran‘s Day because of their poignant mention in the WWI poem: “In Flanders” Field”. They are not just important they are a big deal because the red… means the blood of the people that died and the green is for Flanders Field.

   The use of the poppy as a symbol on Veterans Day (Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth) is derived from its symbolism in the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red color an appropriate symbol for the blood spilt in the war.

   In the years following World War One, governments and society in general had not yet accepted responsibility for those maimed and bereaved as a result of the Great War. Massive unemployment in Britain made the problem much worse.

   Earl Haig, the Commander in Chief of the British Army undertook the mighty task of organizing the British Legion as a means of helping with the problems of hundreds and thousands of men who had served under him. In 1921, a group of French widows visited him at the British Legion Headquarters. They had brought with them some poppies they had made, and suggested selling them as a means of raising money.

  The most recent and enduring tradition began in WWI when John McCrae wrote this famous poem:

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.”

John McCrae 1915

   McCrae was a Canadian who enlisted to help the allies in the war. He was made Medical Officer upon landing in Europe. During a lull in the battle with the nub of a pencil he scratched on a page from his dispatch book. The poem found its way into the pages of Punch magazine. By 1918 the poem was well known throughout the allied world. Moina Michael, an American woman, wrote these lines in reply:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

   She then adopted the custom of wearing a red poppy in memory of the sacrifices of war and also as a symbol of keeping the faith.

   A French woman, Madam Guerin, visiting the United States, learned of the custom and took it one step further. When she returned to France, she decided to hand make the red poppies and sell them to raise money for the benefit of the orphaned and destitute women and children in war torn areas of France. This tradition spread to Canada, the United States and Australia and is still followed today.

   The reason for the Poppy is that it is a plant which thrives on disturbed ground. The seeds, which are produced by the millions in the seed heads, lie dormant until the soil is broken up. The shelling in the trenches was perfect for the poppy, which grew in their millions when nothing else did. The poems came later, the poppies came from the activity and the blasting of the ground.

   What is the flower from poppy?

   A Poppy is a Cactus that is Blue. It has 4 Petals and is tall like a tree. it is also extraordinarily beautiful. Poppies grew wild in the fields in Flanders, where many of the battles of World War 1 took place. They particularly proliferated after the battles were over, the soil churned up, and the area fertilized with the blood of thousands. For this reason, they are a significant link with war veterans. It is fitting that they be sold to raise funds for the veterans of any conflict, or their widows, who need help. 

TAPS

   The tune is a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the “Scott Tattoo”, which was used in the U.S. from 1835 until 1860 and was arranged in its present form by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 1 st Division in the V Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac while at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, in July 1862 to replace a previous French bugle call used to signal “lights out”. Butterfield’s bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, of East Springfield, Pennsylvania, was the first to sound the new call. Within months “Taps” was used by both Union and Confederate forces. It was officially recognized by the United States Army in 1874.

   “Taps” concludes many military funerals conducted with honors at Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere in the United States. The tune is also sounded at many memorial services in Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater and at grave sites throughout the cemetery. It is also regularly played at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, to commemorate the sacrifice made, at & around that site, by United States servicemen in WWII, during the allied effort to liberate Europe from the Nazis.

   Captain John Francis Tidball, West Point Class of 1848, started the custom of playing “Taps” at military funerals. In early July 1862 at Harrison’s Landing, a corporal of Tidball’s Battery A, 2nd U.S. Artillery, died. He was, Tidball recalled later, “a most excellent man”. Tidball wished to bury him with full military honors but for military reasons, he was refused permission to fire 7 rifles 3 times (21-shot salute) over the grave. Tidball later wrote, “The thought suggested itself to me to sound taps instead, which I did. The idea was taken up by others, until in a short time it was adopted by the entire army and is now looked upon as the most appropriate and touching part of a military funeral.” As Tidball proudly proclaimed, “Battery A has the honor of having introduced this custom into the service, and it is worthy of historical note.”

   It became a standard component to U.S. military funerals in 1891.

   “Taps” is sounded during each of the military wreath ceremonies conducted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every year, including the ones held on Memorial Day. The ceremonies are viewed by many people, including veterans, school groups, and foreign officials. “Taps” also is sounded nightly in military installations at non-deployed locations to indicate that it is “lights out”, and often by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides to mark the end of an evening event such as a campfire.

   Melody and lyrics:

   The melody of “Taps” is composed entirely from the written notes of the C major triad (i.e., C, E, and G, with the G used in the lower and higher octaves). This is because the bugle, for which it is written, can play only the notes in the harmonic series of the instrument’s fundamental tone; a B-flat bugle thus plays the notes B-flat, D, and F. “Taps” uses the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth partials”

   Taps” is a bugle call – a signal, not a song. As such, there is no associated lyric. Many bugle calls had words associated with them as a mnemonic device but these are not lyrics. A Horace Lorenzo Trim, wrote a set of words intended to accompany the music:

Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;

All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,

And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.

From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,

‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, neath the sky;

As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

Sun has set, shadows come,

Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds

Always true to the promise that they made.

While the light fades from sight,

And the stars gleaming rays softly send,

To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend.

POW and MIA CEREMONY

   You may notice a small table with a white table cloth on it and on the tablecloth are several items which at this ceremony would be placed on the table by veterans.  In this case, however, I will read the ceremony and its contents to you and you may visit the table in the Tavern at your leisure.

• • Before we begin our activities, we paused WITH A MOMENT OF SILENCE to recognize our POWs and MIAs.
  • We call attention to this small table, which occupies a place of dignity and honor.
  • It is set for one, symbolizing the fact that members of our armed forces are missing from our ranks. They are referred to as POWs and MIAs.
  • There is an empty chair with – (there would be a flag draped over it.)
  • We call them comrades. They are unable to be with their loved ones and families, so we join together to pay humble tribute to them, and to bear witness to their continued absence.
  • The table is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner, alone against his or her suppressors.
  • The tablecloth is white, symbolic of the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms.
  • The single rose in the vase signifies the blood they may have shed in sacrifice to ensure the freedom of our beloved United States of America. This rose also reminds us of the family and friends of our missing comrades who keep faith while awaiting their return. 
  • The red ribbon on the vase represents an unyielding determination for a proper accounting of our comrades who are not among us.
  • A slice of lemon on the plate reminds us of their bitter fate.
  • The salt sprinkled on the plate reminds us of the countless fallen tears of families as they wait.
  • The glass is inverted. They cannot toast with us at this time.
  • The chair is empty. They are NOT here.
  • The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope, which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors, to the open arms of a grateful nation.
  • The American flag reminds us that many of them may never return – and have paid the supreme sacrifice to insure our freedom.
  • Let us pray to the Supreme Commander that all of our comrades will soon be back within our ranks.
  • Let us remember – and never forget their sacrifice. May God forever watch over them and protect them and their families.

“CLOSING CEREMONY AND PRAYER”

   Our Heavenly Father, we deem this a fitting time to pay our respects to our departed comrades.  As we stand with bowed heads in reverence to them, let us remember the good deeds they accomplished.  Let us revere them as good soldiers who fought the good fight in a just cause.  Let us silently pray for peace, the peace that passes all understanding.  and let us in mind and soul consecrate our hearts and lives to the real America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the America worth fighting for.  As we stand in silence to our departed comrades, may we sincerely say, May their souls rest in peace.  Let us also remember the POW’s and the MIA’s still unaccounted for from the wars and conflicts.  Amen