What is Armistice Day?
Prior to its designation by Congress in 1954 as Veterans Day, November 11 was known as Armistice Day. World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In recognition of the significance of that date, in 1926 Congress resolved that “this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”
Statement of Purpose
We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others
To increase public awareness of the costs of war;
To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations;
To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons;
To seek justice for veterans and victims of war;
To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace.
Smedley D. Butler Brigade (Ch. 9)
P.O. Box 320683
Boston, MA 02132
www.smedleyvfp.org
vfpsmedley@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/smedleyvfp/
Armistice (Veterans) Day For Peace
November 11, 2017
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Samual Adams Park
Boston Massachusetts
“War is a racket.
A few profit. The Many pay.”
Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, USMC
In Flanders Fields
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.
It is believed that the death of his friend and former student, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was the inspiration for the poem written by Major John McCrae, a surgeon attached to 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. Helmer was a popular young officer in the 1st Brigade who, on the morning of Sunday, May 2, 1915, left his dugout and was killed instantly by a direct hit from an 8 inch German shell in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day. In the absence of a chaplain, Major McCrae conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting from memory some passages from the Church of England’s ‘Order of Burial of the Dead.’
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook – what would become one of the most memorable war poems ever written.
Armistice (Veterans) Day For Peace
November 11, 2017
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Samual Adams Park
Boston Massachusetts
PROGRAM
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Bring Us Together Music
Dan Luker, Smedley Butler, Welcome
VFP Coordinator
Doug Stuart, Smedley Butler, VFP Opening Words-What Is Armistice Day?
Pat Scanlon, Smedley Butler, VFP David Spinney, Presente
This program is dedicated to his memory
Paul Atwood – VFP, Marine Corps, U.S. Foreign Policy
peace activist, professor U/Mass-Boston “The Crisis On The Korean Peninsula”
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Musical Interlude
Ray Ajemian, Smedley Butler, VFP 100th Anniversary Of World War I-Lessons
Bob Masters–Smedley Butler, VFP, Vietnam Experiences
Vietnam Veteran, Doctor-101st Airborne
David Rothhauser, Smedley Butler VFP Jihadi Girl - poem read by Al Johnson
Webb Nichols, Smedley Butler, VFP, poetry selections
U.S. Army, Vietnam veteran
Juston Eivers, Smedley Butler, Closing Words
VFP Secretary
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Musical Wrap-up
Many thanks to the City of Boston for use of Sam Adams Park
Prior to its designation by Congress in 1954 as Veterans Day, November 11 was known as Armistice Day. World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In recognition of the significance of that date, in 1926 Congress resolved that “this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”
Statement of Purpose
We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others
To increase public awareness of the costs of war;
To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations;
To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons;
To seek justice for veterans and victims of war;
To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace.
Smedley D. Butler Brigade (Ch. 9)
P.O. Box 320683
Boston, MA 02132
www.smedleyvfp.org
vfpsmedley@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/smedleyvfp/
Armistice (Veterans) Day For Peace
November 11, 2017
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Samual Adams Park
Boston Massachusetts
“War is a racket.
A few profit. The Many pay.”
Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, USMC
In Flanders Fields
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.
It is believed that the death of his friend and former student, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was the inspiration for the poem written by Major John McCrae, a surgeon attached to 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. Helmer was a popular young officer in the 1st Brigade who, on the morning of Sunday, May 2, 1915, left his dugout and was killed instantly by a direct hit from an 8 inch German shell in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day. In the absence of a chaplain, Major McCrae conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting from memory some passages from the Church of England’s ‘Order of Burial of the Dead.’
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook – what would become one of the most memorable war poems ever written.
Armistice (Veterans) Day For Peace
November 11, 2017
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Samual Adams Park
Boston Massachusetts
PROGRAM
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Bring Us Together Music
Dan Luker, Smedley Butler, Welcome
VFP Coordinator
Doug Stuart, Smedley Butler, VFP Opening Words-What Is Armistice Day?
Pat Scanlon, Smedley Butler, VFP David Spinney, Presente
This program is dedicated to his memory
Paul Atwood – VFP, Marine Corps, U.S. Foreign Policy
peace activist, professor U/Mass-Boston “The Crisis On The Korean Peninsula”
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Musical Interlude
Ray Ajemian, Smedley Butler, VFP 100th Anniversary Of World War I-Lessons
Bob Masters–Smedley Butler, VFP, Vietnam Experiences
Vietnam Veteran, Doctor-101st Airborne
David Rothhauser, Smedley Butler VFP Jihadi Girl - poem read by Al Johnson
Webb Nichols, Smedley Butler, VFP, poetry selections
U.S. Army, Vietnam veteran
Juston Eivers, Smedley Butler, Closing Words
VFP Secretary
Leftist Marching Band/Voice Opposition Musical Wrap-up
Many thanks to the City of Boston for use of Sam Adams Park
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