Remembering the Greatest Generation

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the James Scholar Advisory & Leadership Team:

The month of August marks the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II in 1945. As we pause to reflect on the achievements of the Greatest Generation (my father and all my uncles were veterans of the World War II era), here are some poems to help us remember what the Greatest Generation fought and died for – a world of peace, justice, and freedom for all people everywhere.

“The Minstrel Boy”

By Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,

In the ranks of death you'll find him;

His father's sword he has girded on,

And his wild harp slung behind him;

"Land of Song!" said the warrior bard,

"Though all the world betrays thee,

One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,

One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's chain

Could not bring his proud soul under;

The harp he loved ne'er spoke again,

For he tore its chords asunder;

And said "No chains shall sully thee,

Thou soul of love and bravery!

Thy songs were made for the pure and free

They shall never sound in slavery!"

The Minstrel Boy will return we pray

When we hear the news we all will cheer it,

The minstrel boy will return one day,

Torn perhaps in body, not in spirit.

Then may he play on his harp in peace,

In a world such as heaven intended,

For all the bitterness of man must cease,

And every battle must be ended.

“THIS IS MY SONG” (1934)

Text by Lloyd Stone (1912-1993) & Georgia Harkness (1891-1974)

Tune: “FINLANDIA” (1899-1900) by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

1. This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

2. My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

O hear my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

3. May truth and freedom come to every nation;

May peace abound where strife has raged so long;

That each may seek to love and build together,

A world united, righting every wrong;

A world united in its love for freedom,

Proclaiming peace together in one song.

“Who Would True Valor See”

By John Bunyan (1628-1688)

Excerpted from Pilgrim’s Progress (1678-1684)

1. Who would true valor see,

Let him come hither;

One here will constant be,

Come wind, come weather.

There’s no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim.

2. Whoso beset him round

With dismal stories,

Do but themselves confound;

His strength the more is.

No lion can him fright,

He’ll with a giant fight,

But he will have a right

To be a pilgrim.

3. Hobgoblin nor foul fiend

Can daunt his spirit,

He knows he at the end

Shall life inherit.

Then fancies fly away,

He’ll fear not what men say,

He’ll labor night and day

To be a pilgrim.

Let’s close our reflections on the Greatest Generation with a few of my favorite lines from Tennyson:

Some Poetical Wisdom from Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

From “Locksley Hall”:

For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew

From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,

With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled

In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World.

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,

And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapped in universal law.

Requiescat Generatio Maxima in pace. (May the Greatest Generation rest in peace.)

Robertus (Rob)