The Last Full Measure of Devotion

Today our family is together, enjoying a day away from the routine. But it is not just a day for mattress sale and eating good food. It is also day to honor the sacrifice of millions of men and women who paid what Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion so that we could be free. And if we ever lose the spirit of gratitude, it will not be long until we also lose the willingness to sacrifice to defend liberty...and it will not be long after that until liberty is lost.


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