Armistice Day

[Si_ffcuk]

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them."

[epsomraver]

 The Kohima Prayer


When you go home, tell them of us and say,
'For your tomorrow we gave our today.'

[LBNo11]

Somme Trip 2006

[Tonywa]

I know it covers all wars and different generations, but I always particularly think of all those millions of young men killed in the first war, many of them still in their teens.  An entire generation was wiped out. RIP.

[epsomraver]

I would challenge anybody to visit Tyne cot  near Pachendale,and not leave with a lump in their throat and perhaps a tear in the eye,    11098 immaculate  graves that seem to stretch for ever into the distance,and a wall with a further 34927 names of the fallen who could not found, that is the biggest of the cemeteries but the whole western front is dotted  with them some big some small, nearly all young men not in the twenties What is so sad is they fought backwards and forwards over the same small areas at terrible loss of life for 4 years

[finnster01]

In Flanders Fields

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 falling 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.

R.I.P. You shall never be forgotten

[HatterDon]

respect to my brothers and sisters in arms

[WhiteJC]

respect to my brothers and sisters in arms

Mr HD, do you have a similar day in the US?

[HatterDon]

Yes, it's called "Veterans Day" here, and I put the flag out about an hour ago.

A lot of folks get confused because of our two days.

1. Memorial Day in Spring -- originally established to honor the dead in the American Civil War 1861-1865 -- now observed as a day to honor our dead from all wars

2. Veterans Day 11/11 -- originally established to honor the dead of the war to end all wars [yeah, right]. Now used to recognize the living Veterans.

Remembrance Day sort of does both jobs.  

[finnster01]

Yes, it's called "Veterans Day" here, and I put the flag out about an hour ago.

A lot of folks get confused because of our two days.

1. Memorial Day in Spring -- originally established to honor the dead in the American Civil War 1861-1865 -- now observed as a day to honor our dead from all wars

2. Veterans Day 11/11 -- originally established to honor the dead of the war to end all wars [yeah, right]. Now used to recognize the living Veterans.

Remembrance Day sort of does both jobs.  

Just about to head out soon to watch the Veterans day parade in Manhattan and pay my respects.

[RidgeRider]

Good on ya Finn.

We do a special lunch where we honor the veterans in a service club I belong to each year at this time where we get to personally honor their service. We do a chronology of their service with pictures etc. It is quite moving.

One of our members was a dive bomber in WWII and was honored with a flag that was flown in his honor at the White House in May and given to him this past Tuesday from our club to honor his service during that war. There were tears from our senior members.

My respects to my brothers across the pond as you take this day to remember those that came before us who made that honored sacrifice.

[YankeeJim]

To those who had the honor to serve I pray you bear the burden of that service with pride.

[LordNelson]

For Sir Finnster:

"Most of the men on a modern warship are highly trained technicians, and the skills of all of them in the Falklands were pressed to the uttermost.  'One didn't depend on brilliant people to excel, but on the ordinary blokes to do what was expected of them,' said a Frigate captain.  As an achievement of seamanship, logistics, ship handling, the British campaign in the South Atlantic was a triumph for the Royal Navy."

Much gratitude!

[sipwell]

The Last Post

Last Post in Ypres. We will remember them.

[Lighthouse]

I am not one to remember the hurt,the sad, the fallen on just the one day. Nor do I think we fight for the future generations, but our own. The poetry of combat is the poetry of existance and decay.


Resentment by Richard Aldington (The Great War)

Why should you try to crush me?
Am I so Christ like?

You beat against me,
Immense waves,filthy with refuse,
I am the last upright of a smashed breakwater
But you shall not crush me
Though you bury me in foaming slime
And hiss your hatred about me.

You break over me
I shudder at the contact
Yet I pierce through you
And stand up,torn,dripping,shaken,
But whole and fierce.

[Hazey]

It's crazy when you look back at how fate (not sure if that is the correct term) plays out.  My great grandfather's on both sides were at WWI.  On my Dad's side Pop Hayes laded with the ANZAC's at Gallipoli and was wounded.  Sent to England to recover and then onthe the Western front to be shot two more times.

Miraculously he survived.  Just recently my Nan told me he was never the same on his return.  He would wake in the night screaming, then sometimes disappear for days before returning home to the open arms of my great grandma who would never "get up him" but apparently just hold him in front of the fire in the lounge.

You sometimes forget about how patient and understanding the wives of returning soldiers are and I wonder if they would hang about as much these days as what Great Grandma did?

Lest we forget and thank god for moving the bullets about a couple of millimetres so I managed to get to be born and meet the Whites of Fulham.

[JBH]

On a recent visit to Brugge my wife and I made the journey to'YPRES' (Wipers as it is affectionately know), it was a truely moving experience and the last post sounded at the Menin Gate (an impressive yet humbling Monumnet) brought several tears to my eyes.

Least we forget, thanks for everything those brave and honest men did for me and all future generations.

As an ex-service man "I SALUTE THEM ONE AND ALL"

[sipwell]

On a recent visit to Brugge my wife and I made the journey to'YPRES' (Wipers as it is affectionately know), it was a truely moving experience and the last post sounded at the Menin Gate (an impressive yet humbling Monumnet) brought several tears to my eyes.

Least we forget, thanks for everything those brave and honest men did for me and all future generations.

As an ex-service man "I SALUTE THEM ONE AND ALL"

I am from the region around Ypres. I still cannot grasp what happened there. As a young boy I would find bullets and the occasional bone of a sodier... 70 years after it all happened. It makes you a pacifist from day 1.

[epsomraver]

On a recent visit to Brugge my wife and I made the journey to'YPRES' (Wipers as it is affectionately know), it was a truely moving experience and the last post sounded at the Menin Gate (an impressive yet humbling Monumnet) brought several tears to my eyes.

Least we forget, thanks for everything those brave and honest men did for me and all future generations.

As an ex-service man "I SALUTE THEM ONE AND ALL"

I am from the region around Ypres. I still cannot grasp what happened there. As a young boy I would find bullets and the occasional bone of a sodier... 70 years after it all happened. It makes you a pacifist from day 1.

I find it quite disrespectful that some have chosen to change the name to Leper,of all names and  considering the huge loss of life by the allies to stop it now from being a German suburb

[JBH]

It doesn't matter what its called now, its the History of the town and its about what happened there a long long time ago. :028: