This is my grandfather just before he went to France in 1944. While there he earned
the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Silver Star. He was grievously wounded and
for a while it was feared he would lose his leg. When I was little, I was his shadow.
This is my dad. He served as a Navy pilot on the aircraft carrier Corregidor in the Pacific. He once
took my mom flying after the war --- scared her so much it took her 30 yrs. to work up the courage to
get on a plane. He taught me and my brother how to handle weapons at an early age.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS POEM The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
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
Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium