May 28, 2018
The Fields of Ypres
In and around the area of Ypres, from 1914 to 1917, over
100,000 men would perish. Ypres fell victim to some of the first trenches, weapons
of mass destruction, shellshock, and chemical warfare.
Seeing the struggling men gasp for air as they lie dying
from chlorine gas, left men like Patrick McCoy, a Scottish officer, reflecting,
“Death had brought its blessed relief.” Escaping to the
trenches, presumably to avoid the chlorine air above, only hastened one’s death,
as the chlorine gas actually gravitates toward the ground. The survivors soon
were engaged in a light show of artillery fighting that would be dubbed, The
Northern Lights. In the sickening onslaught of death, the eerie lights culminated
from the bombardment of mortars, bolt action rifles, machine guns, artillery, and
canons.
Some were left with a new symptom of modern
warfare, called shellshock, or most commonly known today as, Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. Involuntarily, men who would normally bear the brunt of life
courageously, were found in corners, eyes wide, reliving the nightmare of the
trenches forevermore. These men found little relief from sympathetic onlookers.
Good men, yearning to be rid of this hell hole, only found themselves, after
returning home, unable to leave the images and experiences behind. It had all
crept into a place deep within their being they could never escape. Hell in the
trenches would become their hell, as long as time was their companion. There
was no escape, no relief.
The only thing we can do now is remember. We
cannot not remember, for if we do, we leave all these men behind in open
trenches. It isn’t just that they deserve to be remembered for their sacrifice,
but because we are living and have a responsibility to to not repeat these atrocities.
If war is a natural state of the world, more so than peace, then shouldn’t we
embrace the past for it is; lessons to be learned. To consciously avoid
eliminating other human beings may be a good thing, one would think.
How many of us are aware today that chlorine
gas was used in World War l or that the poppies we see on Memorial Day are a
reminder of McCrae’s poem, In Flanders
Fields? From May 25-27, 2018, for
the first time, America has embedded the National Mall in Washington D.C. with
poppies, in honor of the 645,000 American soldiers, who died while serving in the
military during World War l and the wars since then.
John McCrae, a Canadian doctor wrote, In Flanders
Fields on May 3, 1915, sitting on the back of an ambulance near the battlefront
in Ypres. During the second battle of Ypres he lost a friend and witnessed the German
chlorine gas massacre. McRae would dub this second battle at Ypres, “17 Days of
Hades”, which began on April 22, 1915.
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.
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.