Categories: FolkloreThe Hardmen

In Flanders Fields

You don’t have to be in Flanders very long before you start to breathe in the history of the area. Horrible things have happened in the fields across Northern France and Belgium, like the Battle of Waterloo and the Battle of the Bulge. These are the kinds of things that hang in the air for centuries; they seep into your blood.

There is a famous poem written by John McCrae that is worth reading. Its also been put to music by my favorite band, Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

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

Take a moment to remember the fallen with us.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Blah says:

Apr 2 2012 at 12:16 am

Lest we forget.
jimmy says:

Apr 2 2012 at 12:20 am

Indeed the cemetery memorials are sobering reminders and worth a stop during your rides. I often rode through ones near Tielt and Ronse. However, Waterloo is in Wallonia and The Battle of The Bulge ocurred in The Ardennes.
motor city says:

Apr 2 2012 at 1:42 am

@Blah

Lest we forget.

+1

After fighting down through Holland, my grandads tank division was based in Belgium for the majority of WW2. After the war, his best friend went back and married a girl from the local village and started a family there, they live just outside a town called Sint-Truiden.

Our two families have stayed in close contact as generations pass and new ones arrive. It's a really important part of both families history to remember what they went through and the sacrifice of those around them.

I'm due to visit them later this year, and it'll be the first time with my young family. I hope they do the same when they are older.
editor@large says:

Apr 2 2012 at 3:16 am

Waterloo is in Wallonia and The Battle of The Bulge ocurred in The Ardennes

Indeed.

In Flanders Field was written during the First World War.
Pedale.Forchetta says:

Apr 2 2012 at 3:47 am

Significant and required attention to those fields.
Rob says:

Apr 2 2012 at 4:34 am

@Pedale.Forchetta
Yes to that Pedale.
WW1 was sadly not effective in ending war so perhaps "wars" on bikes are the best option?
Oli says:

Apr 2 2012 at 4:58 am

@jimmy
I guess the sentiment survives the geographical fail.
Anjin-san says:

Apr 2 2012 at 5:32 am

@Frank +1.
scaler911 says:

Apr 2 2012 at 5:45 am

@FrÃ¤nk; +1.........
frank says:

Apr 2 2012 at 7:26 am

By "here", I mean the general area, I'm not intending to state the battles happened in Flanders themselves. The point is there have been some horrible, horrible things that have happened in the area, and the people who died in those battles, wherever they were, were often from Vlaanderen and so forth.

It touches you in your very spirit. But thanks for the clarification on the specific geographic areas. That stuff is taken understandably seriously around here. The borders between Waloonia and Vlaanderen are more carefully observed than those between Belgium and France!