Tomorrow on Veterans Day at Hendrix College we will recognize those who have served and those who have fallen for our liberty over many generations.

The Young-Wise Stadium and Memorial recognizes all Veterans from the Hendrix Community and beyond, but in particular pays tribute to Robert Young a Hendrix alum who volunteered and was killed in World War I and to Jeremy and Benjamin Wise, brothers and Hendrix alums, killed in action one year apart in Afghanistan.

At 11:11 am on 11/11./2014, 11 of us will read 11 poems in honor of these students and all Veterans. Please join us.

So to Jeremy and Benjamin

Reality in Afghanistan



My pain feels cold and selfish

My anguish very small

My reality insignificant

Compared to ones that fall

Young men with broken bodies

Their Comrades lie in sacks

Devastated parents

Their sons will not come back.

My pain will ease and lessen

My anguish slip away

Reality in Afghanistan

Two brave men died today

Young men with shell shocked faces

Growing old before their time

Are living breathing testament

To this shallow pain of mine.

Phil Williams
Bastion 1 July 2009

And to Robert Young

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

All to often on College and University Campuses we forget the price in blood paid for the freedoms we enjoy!