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I partook in the ceremonies again this year, and the number of war (as compared to "police action" and peacekeeping) vets is getting dismally low. I know that this is a sad thing both in the fact that these heroes are dying, and also that people of my age have dropped the torch. No younger (35-60) former military types seem to want to stand up and be counted. What will happen in ten years when no one but the current soldiers and a few (painfully few) tottering old men will show up to remember the fallen.

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.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae