Armistice Day
Time to repost this in my own journal...
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, The Great War was stopped, and it was declared that henceforth the 11th of November of each year should be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of war. The war was so terrible that many hoped that leaders would no longer be so foolish as to start new wars, or if they did that the people would refuse to fight.
Armistice Day recalls the over 9 million soldiers killed in the war. As this site notes:
"World War I; 9,000,000 dead young men equal 1,350,000,000 pounds of bone and flesh, 27,900,000 pounds of brain matter, 11,250,000 gallons of blood, 414,000,000 years of life that will never be lived, and 22,500,000 children who will never be born. The dry if imposing figure "9,000,000 dead" seems a little less statistical when we view it from this perspective."
That 9,000,000 is merely the military casualties; 12,500,000 civilians killed as well. As is usual in war, innocent bystanders commonly become victims in greater numbers than the soldiers.
In honor of Armistice Day, here is an anti-war song from the days of The Great War:
Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,
Who may never return again.
Ten million mother's hearts must break
For the ones who died in vain.
Head bowed down in sorrow
In her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thru' her tears:
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today,
If mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."
What victory can cheer a mother's heart,
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer
In the years to be,
Remember that my boy belongs to me!
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
To go fighting in some far-off foreign land.
He may get killed before he's any older
For a cause he'll never understand.
Why should he fight in some rich man's battle
While they stay home and while their time away?
Let those with most to lose
Fight each other if they choose;
For I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier!
"I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" with MIDI. Sing along!
Peace, -- Froggy
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, The Great War was stopped, and it was declared that henceforth the 11th of November of each year should be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of war. The war was so terrible that many hoped that leaders would no longer be so foolish as to start new wars, or if they did that the people would refuse to fight.
Armistice Day recalls the over 9 million soldiers killed in the war. As this site notes:
"World War I; 9,000,000 dead young men equal 1,350,000,000 pounds of bone and flesh, 27,900,000 pounds of brain matter, 11,250,000 gallons of blood, 414,000,000 years of life that will never be lived, and 22,500,000 children who will never be born. The dry if imposing figure "9,000,000 dead" seems a little less statistical when we view it from this perspective."
That 9,000,000 is merely the military casualties; 12,500,000 civilians killed as well. As is usual in war, innocent bystanders commonly become victims in greater numbers than the soldiers.
In honor of Armistice Day, here is an anti-war song from the days of The Great War:
Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,
Who may never return again.
Ten million mother's hearts must break
For the ones who died in vain.
Head bowed down in sorrow
In her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thru' her tears:
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today,
If mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."
What victory can cheer a mother's heart,
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer
In the years to be,
Remember that my boy belongs to me!
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
To go fighting in some far-off foreign land.
He may get killed before he's any older
For a cause he'll never understand.
Why should he fight in some rich man's battle
While they stay home and while their time away?
Let those with most to lose
Fight each other if they choose;
For I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier!
"I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" with MIDI. Sing along!
Peace, -- Froggy