Lest we forget 11th November - Rememberance Day

[valmarg]

I've just read this in today's paper on the letters page:

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Young man - see them marching by,
Their medals catch he light.
Look and hold your head up high,
You'll see no finer sight.

Old men passing in their pride
Were once as young as you.
Now, as then, they're side by side
But now they're growing few.

Should one chance to catch your eye,
Young man, don't look away.
For your tomorrow, live or die,
They gave you their today.

I don't know if it is a well known poem, but I've never read it before, and found it very moving.

Also, referring to NOG's posting, there was an article in Saturday's Telegraph re the 'Thankful Villages'. Of the 16,000 villages across the country that 'sent' men to the First World War, there are only 42 villages that did not lose a man. Quite a sobering statistic.

valmarg

[rustylady]

Yes, remember them and thank them. Also don't forget the families they left behind, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and children. Especially the wives and children.

[Alice]

I was out travelling today and every village I passed through had a small hold up because of people gathering in remembrance at the Cenotaph. Good to see such good turnouts and that those men and boys are remembered.
I find it heartbreaking in France to look at their village memorials and see that there couldn't have been a man or boy left alive in the village.
But we don't learn - do we.

[Peter]

...I have visited some of the war grave cemetaries at Arnhem - very moving and thought provoking.

One day I must go there too, for there lies the manxman who would have been my uncle, enlisted in '39 with the Irish Guards.

Remenber all those fathers, brothers, sons, mothers, daughters and sisters who did not come home, remember also those who come home in suffering.

[NOG]

Have you noticed that some of the Memorial have 1914-1919 on them......Have a look and you will see them.

Why..?
cos that is when the Great War ended. November 1918 was only an Armistice. A ceasefire till the peace conferance. The armistice initially ran for 30 days but was regularly renewed until the formal peace treaty was signed at Versailles the following year(1919). Should the Germans have deviated in any way from the terms of the armistice the Allies warned that a resumption of hostilities would begin within 48 hours.

[moggssue]

I just hope that we never ever forget - nor our children and future generations. We should be forever grateful and thankful of our freedom.

[TPeers]

I'm one of the lucky ones - my grandfather came home. He would never talk about the war....

Took my Brownie unit for Parade yesterday, one child is a half Russian girl, her question - Why are we here? The fighting is over long ago!

Don't I just wish!

For those who never made it home from any armed conflict, not just for my safety but to defend the helpless around the world.

We will remember.

[The Doctor]

I'm one of the lucky ones - my grandfather came home. He would never talk about the war....

So did mine, and he wouldn't either. Right up to the day he died and it went to the grave with him. He was humbled by having been there, I was humbled because he was there, and I am making sure that my children, of 5 and 8, understand it too.

I absolutely would never judge anyone who chose not to talk about it and respect that right, but in a strange kind of way I also found it incredibly frustrating.

This is because if the horrors are not remembered for what they were, eventually people will forget, and when that happens history has taught us that it WILL happen again.

Younger generations like mine are incredibly lucky that they don't have to experience the same, and also incredibly fortunate that there are people out there who are still prepared to VOLUNTEER to do it on behalf of the rest of us.

I will always remember and be grateful.

[bubblewrap]

Troops were often buried where they fell.
My fathers job just after the war had ended?
Digging them up & reburying them in a proper war grave, most of father's "work" was done in Germany, he never talked that much about it. .....................Not a pleasant job!

[JanieB]

As a Town Councillor I attended the first Rememberance Service I have ever been to. I have always watched it on the telly before.

Both my grandfathers were in WW1 and my father was in Burma in WW2. My mother was a nurse during the blitz.

None of them ever wished to talk about their experiences until fairly late in life when they realised it is all still happening.

I am reminded of the words of "The Green Fields of France" ("Willie McBride")

Last verse:-

"And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again."

[Flummery]

Oh I know that song. So sad. The one that really gets me though, that I can't listen too any more without tears, is "The ladies go dancing at Whitsun" - It's about the generation of young girls whose menfolk were killed. So many never had a partner, to dance with, or in life.

[bubblewrap]

As a Town Councillor I attended the first Rememberance Service I have ever been to. I have always watched it on the telly before.

Both my grandfathers were in WW1 and my father was in Burma in WW2. My mother was a nurse during the blitz.

None of them ever wished to talk about their experiences until fairly late in life when they realised it is all still happening.

I am reminded of the words of "The Green Fields of France" ("Willie McBride")

Last verse:-

"And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again."

This one?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=huRwBFmAx78

[kirsty b]

Mt great-grandfather served in WW1 (Navy) and my grandads served in WW2, one in Italy (Army) one in the South Pacific (Marines). I have had cousins in the Army and Navy and my sister currently serves in the Navy.

As cadets my sister and I would attend remembrance parades and salute the veterans.
Studying the poetry written by soldiers of Flanders was also pretty sobering. I look at my stepsons aged 16 and 14 and try to imagine them doing what those men did for King and Country.

[NOG]

I had a great Uncle that was wounded on 17 differant occasions and then was sent back in to the trenches. At the Somme he was wounded and his brother was working at the clearing station (1st aid post) when he came back.

We must also not forget the Maden Aunts. Girls were told at school that they would never marry cos all the men were being killed.

I think all school childern should have to do a trip out to the war graves just to drill in to them how luck they are.

[lainey lou]

When my husband came back from the gulf (1st) war he wouldn't talk either, it was years later that he told me they were told not to talk about it, he still won't.