November 11, 1918

100th Anniversary of the end

of World War I

My Motto:

Always honor the Soldier, but always question the sanity of the Generals and Politicians

In Flanders Fields

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

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.

The band played waltzing matilda

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve and to mourn and to pity And the band played Waltzing Matilda As they carried us down the gangway But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared Then turned all their faces away And now every April I sit on my porch And I watch the parade pass before me And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march Reliving old dreams of past glory And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?" And I ask myself the same question And the band plays Waltzing Matilda And the old men answer to the call But year after year their numbers get fewer Some day no one will march there at all

Where have all the flowers gone?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing? Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago? Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards, everyone. Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

Eve of Destruction

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
And can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

37,000,000 Casualties Later
One shooting helped set off World War I.  The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria took place in the ethnic and religious powder keg of the Balkans.  A single killing of an Austrian set off a chain of events slaughtering entire nations.
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The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was over 37 million.

See more at World War I Casualties.

25 million dead
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was staggering.  The numbers are even higher if you include the resulting revolution in Russia and spin-off wars from Poland to Greece.
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The horror of trench warfare proves that the leadership class is insane.  Battle after battle, year after year, the generals would order their troops to charge at the prepared trench defenses of the enemy with the exact same result  -  mass slaughter.  It was an endless cycle of slaughter, draft new soldiers and more slaughter.