Remembering Local Connections

by Anita Benedict

One of the most emotional Remembrance Day poems for me does not begin "In Flanders Fields the poppies blow," it begins with, "Their names were Willis and Wilfred and Frank and they were all friends of mine like all the kids in that little one room schoolhouse." Even writing that line for this blog has me tearing up so I can barely see the screen. This poem called "The Requiem" was written by Rita (Densmore) Laffin, a childhood friend of my mom's and mother/grandmother to friends of mine.

     The Willis in this Poem is my own Uncle Willis Neil. He lied about his age so he could join like his older brothers and was killed by a sniper in France. His image is burned into my brain and when I hear about wars, or people thinking it’s cool to make Nazi symbols, or people being so hateful, it feels like he and thousand others died in vain.

     As a mom, thinking of my grandmother receiving the news of her son's demise, my heart hurts for her, for their classmates realizing their friends and former playmates were not coming home; never finding the love of his life, never able to have children, never experiencing life.

     Why? Because certain leaders exerted control over the disillusioned, convinced people that certain ethnic groups were the problem: gay people, disabled people, people who didn't fit into their plan.

     Sound familiar? History does repeat itself.

     When I was in Ireland, I looked out over the cold North Atlantic and thought of Wilfred from the poem and was surprised when the tears began to fall. I whispered thank you through those tears. Those waters were his grave, no stone to mark his place. He had given his place in a lifeboat to a wounded friend and tried to swim to another.

     Frank went down with his plane after a successful night raid over Germany. His plane was caught in a searchlight while heading for the safety of England.

     "I often think of these three young boys,

      Who became men before their time. 

       And I wonder what life might have been, 

       had they all not died in their prime."

    Me too, Rita. Thank you for this piece.

    May you find your way to a Remembrance Day ceremony in your community. If you can't, pull over if driving at 11 am and observe a moment of silence. If standing in a line up, observe a moment. Just imagine the power if all the world stopped and was silent for just one minute.