Memorial Day - Dulce et Decorum Est

Wilfred Owen one of the great war poets (from WWI) wrote the following poem, which I think is apt for the war we find ourselves in now.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

- Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Knowing the hell of the trenches, he wrote it in response to war supporters back home who were feverishly recruiting young men to the war. The last line, translated : It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.

For me on Memorial day I remember those young men and women who have served and died in the hell of war not because it is fitting to die for ones country but because they were prepared to do so even when it wasn't.

Dying for ones country is the abstract of service. Not all wars are in the best interests of the country and many lives are wasted. But the soldier, sailor, airman and marine don't get to chose the cause, they simply choose to serve and it is that we should remember when we contemplate their sacrifices.

I'm as proud of our young men and women in service today as I am those who died on the Somme, or Normandy beaches - but just like Wilfred Own I hold in utter contempt those that do choose to send them to the meat grinder for a cause few believe is in the best interests of our country.