That question is asked in the last verse of one of the saddest songs ever written, "The Green Fields of France" by Eric Bogle.
And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
Its hard to imagine a more stupid war than WWI,
16 million dead and 20 million wounded, for what, the vanity of royal cousins? And it was really only round one, with WWII set up by the revenge of the Treaty of Versailles.
We are to honor the fallen today. Let us also remember why they died, because of the vainglorious men who lead them to believe in "The Cause".
War is the enemy.
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
"Nothing except a battle lost can be half as melancholy as a battle won."
~Duke of Wellington
BOHICA
RA18960500
Repentant ex member of Murder Inc.
Southeast Asia Division