"In Flanders Fields:" Veterans Day 2011

Today, let us remember all those who have served in their nation's military.

It was also 93 years ago today that World War I came to a close. The video I've included here is of "In Flanders Fields," a piece written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in 1915 while serving in the trenches of World War I.

In Honor of Memorial Day....

...and the many men and woman who have fallen in service to the United States and its people. Lest we forget their sacrifices.

Winsor McCay's "The Sinking of the Lusitania" (1918)

The First World War had already torn the globe apart by the time the United States became involved in 1917. Propaganda posters, cartoons and films flourished in an effort to produce anti-German sentiment within the nation. Many of them have since become iconic. One of them is particularly interesting - an animated documentary on the Lusitania disaster of 1915. It was created by the famous cartoonist, Winsor McCay (of "Gertie the Dinosaur" fame) in 1918.

Although the film is clearly a piece of anti-German propaganda, it nevertheless gives an interesting interpretation of the sinking. Some of the facts are incorrect, such as when it says that U-39 attacked with two torpedoes (it was U-20 with one). It is important to be mindful of this while watching the film. McCay, however, is able to show what happened with remarkable detail and clarity using nothing more than simple animation.

Sad Irony

What's sadly ironic about this cartoon? The fact that the Lusitania would be at the bottom of the Celtic Sea in a mere two months.

I won't go into the issues involved with the sinking, or whether or not the Lucy was a legitimate target of war. This image just struck me in a certain way...so much so that I felt I had to point it out.