November 09, 2007
Bob Bateman on Remembrance Day
The eleventh day of the eleventh month is more poignant over here on this side of the pond, where 11/11 will forever be the day the guns fell silent on the fields of Europe in 1918. The Brits call it Remembrance Day, and we used to call it Armistice Day before we renamed it Veterans Day.
This week, Bob Bateman became (in)famous for his fight with Victor Davis Hanson. But for Abu Muqawama, this diary entry from Memorial Day of this year is the finest thing he has ever written. And this entry, penned for the Small Wars Journal website, is pretty damn good too.
This Sunday, when y'all come home from church or get back from the bar after last call, put "The Green Fields of France" on the stereo, raise a glass and try not to shed a tear. (The latter just might be impossible.) Abu Muqawama will be sporting his poppy flower here in London.