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.
Hello Friends, today I am taking us back to Memorial Day.
Each Memorial Day our family attends the Rice Lake, Wisconsin service. It is held at Veterans Memorial Park in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
Bill Appleyard had the vision and dedication of having this park constructed.
His song each and every Memorial Day was ... Let There Be Peace On Earth. This year his granddaughter sang it, it was beautiful and brought tears to our eyes.
" The nation which forgets its defenders, will itself be forgotten."
President Calvin Coolidge, 27 July 1920
"Retreat. Hell. We just got here."
Anonymous Marines Officer, France 1918
After the service we take a walk along Veterans Drive. Each year new flags go up honoring local heroes. The flags fly Memorial - Labor Day and after are given to the family. This is the third year that Rice Lake has done this, I think it is a fantastic way to honor our heroes.
A trip to the cemetery to take time to be with a dear friends son who lost his life serving in Bosnia during the Bosnian War.
Young and brave .... fighting for another countries people to be free.
Welcome to On the Road Friday. Today we are going to take a trip to a small city that is just about 5 miles from my little village of Cameron.
The Main Street Association of Rice Lake, Wisconsin will be helping to recognize our service members on Veterans Lakeshore Drive with Honorary banners.
Patriotic ~ Rice Lake ~ Freedom Walk
Banners will be displayed from:
Memorial Day to Patriots Day.
Banners will then be removed, cleaned and presented to the service member or their family/friends on Veterans' Day 2022.
Each year we will feature new service members.
My husband and I attended the Memorial Day service in Rice Lake. After the service we walked along the Freedom Walk. We took time to look up at each banner. We read each story that was provided in the brochure and we said "Thank You!"
A few quotes from the brochure..
"The true solider fights not because he hates what's in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
G.K. Chesterton
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
God fearing patriot and soldier for life! "If we knew the end from the beginning, we would not question the direction in which God takes our lives."
At the start of the walk a banner reads the following..
To all Current Military and Veterans:
We honor you and your families for your service. You are loved and never alone or forgotten. We were there for each other as brothers then and we are there for each other as brothers now.
Anonymous Veteran
Thank you for coming along with me on the Patriotic Rice Lake ~ Freedom Walk.
1. We're approaching Memorial Day Weekend in the US of A...will you mark this in some way? If so tell us how. According to a list found here some things you might do in honor of Memorial Day would be-shop
in a Veteran owned business, learn to play a patriotic song, watch the
Memorial Day concert, take a virtual tour of the White House, write a
letter to a soldier or a soldier's family, fly a flag, attend a Memorial
Day parade, donate flowers for a soldier's grave, put together a care
package for a soldier, and take a moment of silence at 3 PM (the
National Moment of Remembrance)....of the ideas mentioned are there any you will try?
We will attend the Rice Lake Memorial Day Ceremony. We will have our flag flying proudly, as we say THANK YOU, to our military.
Our Sam... Thank you Sam!!
2. What's something recently that made you 'come to attention'?
A young man on a bicycle zipped right in front of me while I was driving our car. Thank goodness, I was just accelerating.
3. In what area of your life do you need to 'soldier on'?
Not to let current events worry me.
4. As a long weekend approaches and summer draws near, what's a favorite
food from your childhood you think about adding to the menu?
Watermelon.. the watermelon I grew up with, had seeds. I loved to spit the seeds out during a picnic. And maybe have a seed spitting fight with my sister.
5. Your favorite patriotic movie?
The Longest Day
6. Insert your own random thought here.
~ May 31st is our Anniversary ~
This photo is from one of our many anniversary adventures. Shortly after taking this photo, I happen to have one leg fall into a deep hole created by some animal. Thank goodness I did not break my leg... and all the while, me falling one leg in a hole, my husband laughing and me laughing as he pulls me out of the hole.. it is a blessing to spend my days with my best friend.
"I died during the battle, Mom." I went to save two other buddies and got shot going across to help them. I was hit in the leg. My battle buddies tried to save me, but they goofed up the call for the Medi Vac."
The above was the conversation I had with Sam after he completed The Forge.
I have learned a lot about becoming a Military Mom.
We learn to let go.
10 weeks of no communication .. but snail mail. Oh how I loved that snail mail.
We did not hear from Sam for the first two and half weeks. I will say that was hard. I had no way of knowing how he was doing, if he was making friends, if he was succeeding.
During The Forge I really felt it. I wanted to know how he was doing. I had this urgency to go help him. It all can be hard to explain, all this emotion was coming up inside me.
Again.. more letting go.. little by little.
Quiet courage and fierce determination to help those who need it. That is what I see in our son Sam. I am so very proud of what he has accomplished and what he is going to do in the future.
At the same time I will be honest. I worry.
In my previous post I shared that Sam would be deployed to help with floods, wildfires and hurricanes. His recruiter gently reminded us that he can be called up for battle as well.
I pray for peace. That our world will get along and not feel the need to kill each other.
I think about my grandpa Sam and the Greatest Generation.
I think about my dear friend Marv who helped in the Korean War.
I think about our family friends who helped in Vietnam.
I think about our neighbor Pat who helped in the Gulf War.
Those who we sent care packages during the War on Terror, Cathy, Brendon and Gabe.
When I get anxious I continue to look up: to the stars, the sun and the moon. I tend my garden. I pull weeds, look for bees, butterflies and listen close to the birds. I look up in the tree tops, I watch the leaves wave in the wind and I look to the heavens.
We had a lovely graduation, family time and the party was fantastic. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes for Sam. I will be sharing photos from our graduation party this coming week, along with tips and tricks if you will be hosting a party anytime soon. And a few things I learned to do for the 2020 Graduation Party!!
It is good to be back and I think a story is a good way to get back into the groove ..
Our family celebrated Memorial Day by attending the Rice Lake Memorial Day Services. It always is well done. The guest speaker for the past years has always done a great job and again this year. Lakeview Medical Center Hospice Care also spoke this year about the new program they have for Veterans, We Honor Veterans. The coordinator of the program shared a few moving stories of honoring Veterans while on hospice.
At the end of the service we rose to sing God Bless the U.S.A by Lee Greenwood .. we were led in song by a WWII Veteran.
As the song began, he was not able to sing, he then announced to all of us "I have been thinking of this all morning, now when it is time to do it, I have forgot the words." All of us in the crowd cheered for him. As the chorus came he got the words back and was able to finish the song.
We all gave him a standing ovation and many cheers.
It was a great program.
After the service we went to our friends home for dinner and time on the lake canoeing and fishing. We took our canoe for the day.
The weather in Wisconsin has been a wee bit NUTS!!
Memorial Day was a HOT day, 100 degrees and that is crazy weather for May in Wisconsin.
The weather folks said nothing about storms. Why should they, the sky was blue, the sun was bright and a warm breeze would help cool one off.
We had a great time at our friends, enjoying our time on the lake, fishing (I caught 7 fish!) It was getting late and time to head for home.
We loaded the canoe up on the rack of our auto.
We heard thunder in the distance. The kind of thunder when you say to your friend "Did you hear thunder?" and they say "I think so, maybe not, maybe it is a jet, not sure." Because the sky is blue, so why would we think thunder!
We said our goodbyes and on our way we went. We got on to the highway and saw a BLACK CLOUD and we were driving into the black cloud. I quickly got my phone out and looked at the weather. A storm had brewed up, but it should not hit our hometown, we just needed to go along the edge of the black cloud to get home.
We were doing well. We were cruising along .. so was the black cloud.
All of a sudden the wind picked up, it literally picked up our canoe off the top of our auto.
I screamed!
Jeremy stopped, the boys got out, they tied the canoe down as tight as they could.
Jeremy said we will take it slow, we will get home. Just as he said that, going along at 45 miles per hour, the wind once again picked up the canoe and swung the canoe sideways on the top of the auto.
I am getting out! I am running away! I want nothing to do with driving home with the canoe on the top of our auto.
I begin to scream. "Jeremy, WE HAVE TO ABANDONED THE CANOE!"
We have friends in the area, I say "Can we take the canoe to Dave's?" Jeremy looks at me, the boys look at me, they say at the same time "Mom, Dave's is back that away, two miles back that way, two miles back in the black cloud!"
What are we going to do!
Jeremy and the boys tie the canoe down one more time, we do not make it a wee bit more and the canoe is lifted up and the entire conversation from above happens again, but this time I am louder!! The boys also agree, we need to abandon the canoe. Jeremy agrees we need to abandon the canoe.
We scan the homes we are around and say "that one looks like nice people."
The storm has not hit yet, but you know how it can be windy, the sky is green and it is going to crack open at any second .. well that is what it was like as we knocked on the strangers door.
We explained .. we are about 30 miles from home .. can we please leave our canoe .. the wind keeps blowing the canoe over .. we will pick it up in the morning .. .. THANK YOU!!!
We were blessed that yes, we did come across nice people. We left our canoe. We got home just in time. Then the lighting cracked, the power went out, the hail pelted and the thunder rattled the house.
In the morning we went and picked up our canoe.
The End!
It is good to be back .. Graduation Party coming up next.
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written
during the First World War by Canadian physician and Lt. Col. John
McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over
the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died during
the Second Battle of Ypres.
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.
–Lt. Col. John McCrae
My dad shared with me, that he recited, In Flanders Fields at a Memorial Day service, when he was in school. It is something he still is proud of doing and remembers well.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Declaration of Independence
We are...a people who have come from every corner of the globe, most of us in the last century, and all of us in pursuit of a most noble and remarkable vision - that in this land men and women could live in freedom and liberty with their God - given rights respected.
I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today,'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.
