"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier..."

Dear Diary,

It was a day of downpours but that didn't dampen the spirits of those of us who gathered in the Old Meeting House to hear Katherine Rhoda sing songs of the World War I era.  She began with one from 1915 which was wildly popular and the first real anti-war song.  (If you want, you can hear an original recording of it here.)


America did not enter the war until 1917 and by then sentiments had changed.  That song was reworked to, "I didn't raise my boy to be a shirker".  Katherine plays many instruments and also gave us fascinating backstories to the songs.  I am very glad I dragged myself out.

It is Labor Day here in the States, a day to celebrate the workers and those who fought for workers rights over the decades.  I've included a photo of Dad in 1938 at a mine he was working in.  (He is the smiling one holding his hat, left front. )  He had been born just a couple of months before the end of WWI.  Six years after this photo was taken he would be leaving for war and I don't think he was smiling so broadly then.  I'm sure his mother didn't raise him to be a soldier but he became one anyway.  And the beat goes on....

Here is a link to my favorite anti-war song of the 1960's, Where Have all the Flowers Gone? by Peter, Paul and Mary.  And still we sing...