Árdís - 01.01.1947, Blaðsíða 11

Assembled here on this summer day, with our hearts uplifted in the
spirit of dedication to the service of the Lord of our life, we would re-
member with gratitude those splendid young men of valor whose names
will be recorded and their glory enshrined in this Memorial Hall. Their
names lengthened the casualty lists in the newspapers of the United
States and Canada during the First and Second World Wars. They were
young men of Icelandic parentage, reared in the homes of men and
women from tlie land of the Vikings who had established new homes in
the new lands of hope and promise, in the lands to which we as Canad-
ians and Americans owe allegiance.
Full often have we sung their renown in grateful remembrance.
We do so again today, and will continue to do so as long as the breatli
of freedom shall remain our dearly bought birthright and valued pos-
session.
“O valiant hearts, who to your glory came
Tlirough dust of conflict and through battle-flame;
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.
Proudly you gathered, rank on rank to war,
As who had heard God’s message from afar;
All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave
To save mankind—yourself you scorned to save.
Splendid you passed, the great surrender made,
Into the light tliat nevermore shall fade;
Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
Who wait the last clear trumpet-call of God.”
(Arkwright)
In honored graves their bodies rest, serene and blest, ’neath tundra
bleak, ’neatli desert sands, ’neatli meadows green, ’neath palm and pine,
’neath ocean’s billowy waves,—in many a distant land and clime. Grate-
ful hands of people formerly enslaved by the shackles of the militant
oppressor, but liberated betimes by the shedding of these heroes’ blood,
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