Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Armistice Day/  Veterans Day, & Spirituality 8 March, 2012, Normandy France, Geoff W. Sutton A century ago, 1914, The Great War was underway. Two years later, on 21 February 1916 the Battle of Verdun began. Using the code name, Judgment , the Germans attacked the French at Verdun in an effort to “bleed France white” ( von Falkenhayn ). The graphic descriptions left by the soldiers remind readers of the horrors of war. The numbers of dead soldiers at one battle is mind-numbing—133,000 French and 120,000 Germans. War is a spiritual experience of the worst kind. War is hell. On the fields of Belgium and France, soldiers noticed signs of life. Men remembered birds in the sky. Close to the release of German gas, a woman gave birth (April 22, 1915). And despite the devastation, others appreciated the flowers in the Spring.  In 1915, a Canadian soldier, John McCrae , penned the famous lines: I n Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on ...