I See My Old Comrades, How Proudly They March

Reading about the death of the last WWI veteran, I could not help but be struck by the opening sentence:

The last known combat veteran of World War I was defiant of his place in history, becoming a pacifist who wouldn’t march in parades commemorating wars like the one that made him famous.

This, of course, reminded me of the song And the Band Played "Waltzing Matilda", in which an old (SPOILER ALERT), maimed veteran of the Battle of Gallipoli ponders his service, his maiming, and the celebration of celebration of ANZAC Day- these particular lines jumped into my mind:


Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of 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 still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all.


Rest in peace, Claude Stanley Choules, rest in peace.

My introduction to the song was to the version by The Pogues, but the song was written by Scottish born resident of Australia Eric Bogle. As much as I love The Pogues, I'm going to embed the original:





Mr Bogle also wrote the song No Man's Land also known as "The Green Fields of France", another anti-war song rooted inspired by the "War to End All Wars":





Although Mr. Bogle's two most famous songs were inspired by the horrors of the First World War, he also wrote about more trivial topics, he also has a talent for trenchant satire, old man grumpiness, and wistful prettiness.

As an added public service, I'll embed a version of Waltzing Matilda... I referenced billabongs in a previous post, it's the appropriate thing to do:

Armistice Centenary

The dominant news story of the day has been the centenary of the Armistice which ended World War One. I spent much of my day with visiting family, heading to the American Museum of Natural History with my sister, her husband, and my nephews, then headed north to go to work.

The coverage has gifted us with accounts ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime- with Trump putting his combover over honoring the fallen and Macron speaking out against nationalism. One of my favorite posts about the day was Doktor Zoom's invocation of Kurt Vonnegut, who lamented that Armistice Day was turned into Veterans' Day here in the 'States, a move which de-emphasizes the value of peace while extolling the warrior, which jingoists often conflate with support for war.

World War One is a strange war, one not often talked about here in the 'States. The most appalling thing to me about the war is that it was, in many ways, a family squabble, with an inbred aristocracy throwing the flower of their nations' youth into a meatgrinder, a situation described with the proverb lions led by donkeys. The saddest thing about the war is that it had the potential to end in 1914 when soldiers ceased fighting in order to celebrate Christmas together. Suppose they gave a war and everybody decided to party instead. I also find the Treaty of Versaille, with its crushing punitive stance toward Germany's people, to be particularly horrible in light of the eventual rise of Nazism. The war was a nasty bit of bad business, leading to tens of millions of deaths and decades of misery.

In my estimation, the great poet of the First World War is Scottish born Australian Eric Bogle, whose antiwar songs have passed into the status of standards. I usually embed one of his tearjerker ballads in my Memorial Day posts. Mr Bogle doesn't sing of the 'glories' of war, he writes of the stark aftermath... death or dismemberment.

One hundred years after the end of the War to End all Wars, as Mr Bogle plaintively notes, war has happened again and again, and again, and again, and again. Hateful rhetoric, the plundering of natural resources, war profiteering- all occur, and until the human race eschews hate, fear, and greed, it will be another hundred years... if we survive.

Memorial Day

For some reason, I thought that I'd posted a video for Eric Bogle's No Man's Land last Memorial Day, but in actuality, I posted it as a reaction to the news that the last WW1 combat veteran had died. Anyway, I can't think of a more appropriate post for Memorial Day than to post a video for the song, which has become a standard covered by numerous artists:






The last verse of the song is a particularly poignant one:


Now young Willie McBride I can't help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.


Eric Bogle also wrote the anti-war ballad And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda about a wounded veteran of the battle at Gallipoli:

Memorial Day 2017

Memorial Day is a strange day here in the 'States. It's a day set aside for the remembrance of the glorious fallen on which many people go to the beach or drink beer with friends. I don't begrudge people their fun- Americans have the least amount of vacation time in the developed world, it's a rare day off for overworked, undercompensated people. Hey, I myself am going to meet some friends I haven't seen in a couple of months for lunch. Duty to friends is even more laudable than patriotism in these strange days, with a strange government in place.

As far as the true message of Memorial Day goes, I typically defer to Eric Bogle, who wrote the definitive song for the fallen soldier. What could I add to his incredible tribute? What could anyone?

A Most Confusing Holiday

Memorial Day has long struck me as an odd holiday... on the one hand, it is a holiday set aside to commemorate military personnel who lost their lives in service to the nation, on the other hand, it is a day most people celebrate by going to the beach or throwing barbecue parties. As far as the meaning of Memorial Day goes, nobody has articulated it better than Eric Bogle.

I can't criticize anybody who spent the day at the beach or at a party- it's not like Americans get too many paid holidays, and these days of the gig economy even paid vacation time is becoming increasingly rare. I'm at work, but it may as well be a holiday- after an initial hour of dealing with the public, including a visitor who set off alarm bells with the manager on duty because she strayed away from her tour group on three occasions (I had to do an inspection tour to make sure she didn't pocket anything), I have our lovely property all to myself.

Part of me thinks that Memorial Day should be moved to a time of year when the weather isn't so gorgeous. It's hard to be solemn when it's sunny and warm outside. Maybe Presidents' Day and Memorial Day can be swapped- February is a much better time of year to be contemplative.

In Accordance with Our Memorial Day Tradition

As I have typically done on Memorial Day, I am embedding a video for Eric Bogle's Green Fields of France:





Memorial Day is a strange affair here in the 'States... it falls on a late May day and is considered the unofficial "first day of Summer". Most people have barbecues or hit the beaches, and it's a big drinking day. A lot of stores have Memorial Day sales. There are parades, but for most people, it's a party or a shop-til-you-drop day. Perhaps the holiday should be moved to a drearier month so it can be commemorated with solemnity.

Perhaps there should be more than eight or so national holidays, so people can have time for remembrance as well as recreation... as if that would ever happen.

Memorial Day Weekend

Ten years after the "Iraq War" began, more than ten since we invaded Afghanistan... and it's Memorial Day weekend. I fervently hope that the country can wind down from "perpetual war" status soon, so we can stop throwing young men and women into the meat grinder. As I did last year, I will "outsource" my Memorial Day post to Eric Bogle, who wrote one of the most poignant critiques of war, and the cultures that produce endless war:





Now young Willie McBride I can't help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.