Those of you in UK will know that tomorrow is Remembrance Day when, at the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month we observe two minutes silence to remember those millions who gave their lives in two World Wars, and many lesser wars since, so that we can enjoy the freedom which we know today. It is difficult to write anything about the supreme sacrifice made by those who died without it seeming hackneyed; they were not all heroes, they were ordinary human beings who felt fear and pain like anyone else. But they did their duty as they saw it, and the cost in blood was often appalling.
The carnage in the First World War was almost unbearable - 60,000 killed and wounded on the first morning of the battle of the Somme (June 1916) which was fought to help prevent a French collapse at Verdun to the south which could have ended the war in Germany's favour.
But a year earlier at Ypres the British and Canadians had already taken huge casualties and in the midst of the battle a Canadian Army Doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, embittered by the loss of a close friend a day or two earlier, penned the following lines:
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 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.
Of course some of you will have heard this before but, for those who haven't, it bears reading and thought. And, with the Festival of Remembrance taking place even now at the Albert Hall in London, think of the individual lives that every one of the falling poppies represents ...
Tony.
PS. Sorry if this comes over as heavy, but I do believe that we owe them our thoughts and our thanks.
ther was an 111 year old veteren on the news last night who talked a bit about the 1st world war. it was interesting. and on the front of todays paper were 2 soldiers who had each lost a leg but were returning to the battlefield. now that is being heroic in my opinion. i have put money in several collecting pots in shops but have not actually seen anyone selling poppies so have been unable to buy one.
also i think it is unfair to refer to other wars as "lesser". they may have been smaller but individual cost was still the same i.e. personal injuries and deaths.
Thank you for this. I'd like to be able to say more, but somehow i can't. There are several soldiers in my life and family, i just always hope i wont have to remember them this way, if that makes sense.
18.11 28.4 6.5 22.31
My heart just needs his smile, that i can't forget, like so melancholy a kiss.
Sorry, Kanga, I didn't mean to classify the conflicts we've been involved in since WW2 as unimportant - I was involved in one or two myself and, of course, the loss of a friend or relative hits home just as hard.
Since posting this, and in the wake of watching the Festival of Remembrance on BBC1 this evening, I logged onto the Commonwealth War Graves Commision website to see what record they had of Major Harley Edmond Fox-Davies (Harley's great-uncle, after whom he was named) and, straightaway they came up with his date of death (by cruel chance the exact date on which his neice, Harley's mother, was born) and the War Graves Cemetery in which he is buried in North Africa.
He had earlier been medically boarded , due to epyleptic attacks, and was about to be sent back to UK and discharged after 10 years as a regular officer. He pleaded with the CO of a battalion of his regiment which was about to go up to the front and, against all the rules, was given command of a company. They were overrun by Rommel's first major thrust into Libya and Harley was shot through the throat and killed. He had earlier been awarded a Military Cross for his exploits with the Long Range Desert Group, the forerunners of today's SAS.
So, if any of you have some past relative who was killed in any war, and you want to know more, then try the CWGC website. They obviously put a lot of effort into it ...
There's been a procession that walks through my street for years up to the local church. Whenever I hear the bag pipes on the Rememberance day, I know its coming up for the 2 minute silence.
My mum always made sure we did it =]
I don't think enough time/money & resources is spent on our soldiers.
I totally agree. They are in enough danger because of who they're fighting.... the last thing they need is dodgy equipment. I'd feel much more comfortable with my brother fighting if I knew that he'd got everything he needed.
It's a sad day to remember what Human kind is capeale of.
Agreed.
It's good, though, to remember what people have sacrificed for their families, friends and beleifs. If those people had not given their lives in war who knows where we'd be now.
My Grandad fought in World War II, he was only 16 when he joined up even though he should have been 17. But they were so desperate for people they didn't really care too much. He was one of the guys who on D-day was parachuted in and many of his comrades died in flooded fields etc. He survived the parachute jump but was quickly captured as a prison of war, where he suffered stuff I can never even begin to imagine, I am so proud of him an it is a great honour for me to be able to say that he is my Grandad and that i know him. I am so lucky that he has the strength to survive all the cruelty he went through at the hands of the enemy.
My other Grandad fought in the Suiz (sp??) Crisis. I am also very proud of him. <3
I am so proud to be able to say that both my Grandfathers protected this Nation and fought for it. Every single soldier should be remembered for everything they did, i don't know about you but i don't think i would ever have the guts to even contemplate doing what they did and going through what they went through. Every single one of us should be PROUD.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill.
Last edited by Absi : 11-11-2007 at 11:52 PM.
Reason: spelling
"A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."
Blonde hair blue eyes right here ... I'd be alive but I would still have blonde hair rather then purple.
I was born blonde haired blue eyed.
But I'm roma by birth.
Infact it was WW2 that brought my family from France/Germany, to England, then Ireland, some relative married an Irish bloke, then back to England 8 years ago.
Etc etc.
Grandfather was a sargent in WW2 and would have made higher had he stayed, but he didn't and became a print maker. We've got all his badges and medals at home, always an emotional day for him.
As always, I watched the Royal British Legion's Festival of Remembrance on TV last night and the ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph this morning - and, as always, I found them intensely moving ...
But, Platinum, while I find the idea of war, and the deaths and the maimings naturally abhorrent, I'm afraid that there does come a time when a nation has to stand up for its rights and its principles if it is not to become some sort of lickspittle lackey in its relations with the rest of the world. Immediately before WW2 Britain was very much pacifist with the memories of the carnage of WW1 still in people's minds and when Chamberlain (the then Prime Minister) returned from Munich in 1938 with his message of "peace in our time", he was widely applauded, even though he had in effect given way to Germany's seizure of the Sudetenland and the Czech Republic.
Eventually when, in September 1939, Germany invaded Poland despite warnings from France and Britain that such an invasion would mean war, we in this country had no option but to honour our promises - with all the horror and sacrifice that then ensued (Hitler thought that he could bully and brazen his way across Europe and that the more boldly he did so, the less he would be opposed by the craven minor nations). Happily, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, Britain stood up and for more than a year stood alone against the might of Nazi Germany - until eventually America entered the war in late 1941 (following Pearl Harbour).
Enough of military history! The point I'm trying to make is there can come a time in the affairs of nations when, despite the cost in lives that will result, there is no real alternative to war - and, of course, it will be fought by ordinary men and women who did not in themselves cause it ...
Let us salute them and honour them!
Tony.
PS. To illustrate the point, if you were President of Israel right now and closely following the rantings of President (can't spell it!) of Iran who has announced to the world that he wants to see Israel wiped off the face of the Earth, what options have you as Iran announces to the world that it will continue to develop nuclear weapons. It is in a sense a game of chess but, if it threatens checkmate, one or both sides will be committing themselves to a bloody outcome - bloody for the poor bloody servicemen involved.
