Memorial Day 2004

Taps
Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.

There is no official set of lyrics for Taps; the above is the first verse of the most frequently cited version.

Readings
Jorie Graham’s poem of remembrance, Soldatenfriedhof, in today’s New York Times.
The American Battle Monuments Commission page of American War Dead.
To find out about war dead in Iraq, visit Lunaville.org’s Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
The Washington Post has a moving lead editorial today: Memorial Day.
For an unromantic view of “The Good War” from one of its infantrymen, read Paul Fussell’s Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War .