Veteran's Day

President-Elect Obama marked Veteran's Day yesterday in a quiet ceremony with Iraq war veteran and Illinois Veteran's Affairs Department Director Tammy Duckworth.

yahoo: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth place a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago November 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)



I always think of this poem on Veteran's Day. In my hometown this was always read at the cemetery on Memorial Day.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
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.