In Flanders Fields–John McCrae, 1915:
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.
I’ve visited Colville sur Mer, the D Day cemetery in Normandy, on several occasions. One cannot but weep at all the names, ranks, hometowns and ages, cut into the white marble crosses and the occasional Star of David.. sergeant, 19 yrs old, lieutenant, 21 years, corporal, 20 years old… words fail. Several thousand graves, well tended, the only territory the ’empire’ of the United States ever asked of the French.
Just north, in Arromanches, the little coastal village where the famous Mulberry Harbor floating dock system was constructed (and where pieces of it are still visible in the water), there is a snack shop up the street from the beach and the war museum. A large poster decorates the back wall behind the snack bar.
The poster is a sunset, with a silhouetted American GI strolling off toward the horizon. Helmet tilted, rifle slung over shoulder… the classic image of the GI. It takes the viewer a moment to realize the ambiguity– is he heading westward and home after a successful war, or is he strolling toward his own heaven after giving Lincoln’s “last full measure of devotion”?
In the foreground are two French children, a boy and a girl around ten years old. You see them from behind, holding hands and waving at the American soldier as he departs.
The caption, in the voices of the children, says simply —
“Merci Monsieur!”
Thanks mister… for everything..
Wouldn’t you like to have a copy of that poster today? I enjoyed reading your account. Someday I’d like to see it for myself.
I last visited in 2004, when the Iraq war was well under way and the anti-American protests were already happening in Paris, Brussels, London.. poster was still there…
the way I see it, that little town depends on tourism exclusively, and probably ignores politics and maintains itself ‘as is’.. so I suspect the poster is still there now. I’ve not been able to locate the image online with any search I could think of.. but it is a powerful thing. 🙂
The cemetery is right on a clifftop, and you can stroll the western edge by the railing and look down on a wide stretch of beach (Gold Beach in the invasion, I think it was).. not hard to see it all unfold in your mind’s eye..
all day, every day, the administrative office is buzzing, families consulting records, asking where to find a particular headstone… it is an unforgettable place ..