Lest we forget

[Gazongola]

As many of us share the values of a victorian society, may I be the first to say



It is rememberance day (veterans day to our American friends) and please remember your two minute silences at the eleventh hour, as we remember those who lay down their lives in service to their countries and to preserve their own and our freedom.



    For The Fallen
    With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
    England mourns for her dead across the sea.
    Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
    Fallen in the cause of the free.

    Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
    Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
    There is music in the midst of desolation
    And a glory that shines upon our tears.

    They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
    Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
    They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
    They fell with their faces to the foe.

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

    They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
    They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
    They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
    They sleep beyond England's foam.

    But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
    Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
    To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
    As the stars are known to the Night;

    As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
    Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
    As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
    To the end, to the end, they remain.

[helios]

I did this morning, along with all of my class. It's important to remember.

[von Corax]

As many of us share the values of a victorian society, may I be the first to say

Or the second, at the very least.

Lt. Col. John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields, written during the Second Battle of Ypres, is, I think, "in the blood" for most Canadians. Is anyone else familiar with it?

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.

According to an article at Canadian Design Resource, prior to the Great War there were few poppies to be found growing in Flanders. The massive artillery barrages chewed up the chalk bedrock of the area, producing a lime-rich soil in which the poppies flourished for a time; once the war ended, the poppies quickly depleted the lime and soon returned to their previous obscurity.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(For archival purposes: At the time I post this, my avatar is temporarily and will be until the end of the week.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Tomorrow will be my first Remembrance Day down here in the States.

I take this holiday very seriously, despite being young. I know I can't understand the hardships that Canadians of before had to go through to protect and serve the country and I'm not sure I ever will know, but I try to be as respectful as possible. I'm glad I managed to get a poppy mailed down to me. I find the lack of similar seriousness in any specific day in America to be rather disturbing... but as I said, I take this quite seriously. It will always be so close to deserve remembrance.

[stardust]

thank you very much for this thread. i read these poems and remembered our heros.

[Dr. Oliver Cross]

Lt. Col. John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields, written during the Second Battle of Ypres, is, I think, "in the blood" for most Canadians. Is anyone else familiar with it?

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.

Yes, yes it is.  I don't think there's a Canadian alive who can read that without the hairs on his or her body standing on end.

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

Ninety one years ago today, we saw an end to one of the most deadly conflicts ever.

The bitter irony of this is that nothing changes - We're still throwing away lives in fields where poppies grow.

[Valkyrie]

Ninety one years ago today, we saw an end to one of the most deadly conflicts ever.

The bitter irony of this is that nothing changes - We're still throwing away lives in fields where poppies grow.

My sentiments also.  I observed the two minute silence with thoughts of all the soldiers who are in Iraq and Afganistan, still fighting in the name of peace and democracy.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

It seems that, with active conflicts happening, people do remember and appreciate their servicemen more these days...for years, I put on my old Class A uniform every Veterans Day and Memorial Day and wore it to work, to remind people, lest they forget.

I might also say that to opine that lives are being "thrown away" is a political statement, with which some might not agree, but I'll say no more, lest I be equally at fault.

In appreciation for all who served, and are currently serving, and in particular for those who gave their all, to keep the folks at home safe....

******salute******

~T

[eggberta echegaray]

Oh geeze, I didn't realize there was another Remembrance Day thread, I started one in the off topic category...my bad on that.

http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,20048.msg452656.html#new

Mods, move mine on over, sorry bout that...

[eggberta echegaray]

Lt. Col. John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields, written during the Second Battle of Ypres, is, I think, "in the blood" for most Canadians. Is anyone else familiar with it?

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.

Yes, yes it is.  I don't think there's a Canadian alive who can read that without the hairs on his or her body standing on end.

Yup, it is in the blood, thank you for posting it I should find the "Heritage Minute" on this

[eggberta echegaray]

and...here it is

A Part of Our Heritage - Flanders Fields	DQ

A Part of Our Canadian Heritage - Flanders Fields

[James Harrison]

I observed the silence and wear my poppy with pride.  Had my health been just a little better I could have been fighting now, as from an early age I wanted to go into the Navy, who on occasion send battalions of sailors into the field.   

[Lady Fleur Mapledurham]

If I should die, think only this of me:
That theres some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England.  There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whome England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by rivers, blessed by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away.
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness
In hearts a peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke - 1887-1915


Aside from sharing this, I don't know what I can can say that hasn't already been said far more eloquently than I could.

Fleur

[LadyAsprin]

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
-Only the monstruous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen


My university has the building which was used as a hospital for Shell-Shock during WW1 and both Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were sent there.  There is a constant memorial in the War poets exhibit.

[HAC]

Remembrance Day was a bit special for us this year. We've been working on getting the service records of two uncles who were shot down in WWII.
As well digging through old photos from the family back east,we were able to get pictures as well.
 
Jeannies Uncle Wilf, was shot down over Holland and ended up buried in the general cemetery in Usquert. With the help of some new found friends over there we were able to get his grave consecrated (he was Catholic, as are we), and we sent over a Canadian Legion flag holder and enough Canadian flags to put on all the Canadian war graves in Usquert, adn Vleiland.
  
Wilf:




My uncle was shot down on a bobming raid to Dortmund. He's the one standing on the right.



His name is on the Bomber Command Memorial in Nanton, Alberta



Again with the help of our Dutch "extended family" we may finally know when he might have been shot down.. There are tons of old records to dig through.


To put it into perspective, Wilf was 21, Roger was 23.



Cheers
Harold

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Well, the old uniform still fits...just a bit more snug than 34 years ago...



Any other vets with pictures to post?

~Thistlewaite

[Gazongola]

I am so glad to share this with all of you, those poems still make me tingle. I woke up this morning just to observe the silence on radio 2 and then went to sleep again fo another half hour :p. Students eh?

I will say though that in town today, ot of about 500 people, I only counted 30 wearing poppies. A shame really.

[helios]

Here in NZ, there's been a rise in young people attending the ANZAC Day Dawn Parade, which is much like Remembrance Day. If more and more youth can remember the sacrifice those that went before us made, so that we may live lives free of tyrany and oppression, perhaps there is hope for the for the future.

And I try to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, but this year, I couldn't find my one from ANZAC Day, and they don't sell them here this time of year. The focus is nearly entirely on ANZAC Day.

[Lucius Voltaic]

My great-grandfather, Joseph Ruyavitz, was with the American army in France. He survived, but it is impossible to imagine how many of his friends he must have seen killed...

And, Sir Nikolas, I agree with your appreciation of human life, but I bristle at your cavalier use of the phrase "throwing away lives". I won't get into the politics of current wars, but it disturbs me greatly to hear your implication--"still throwing away lives..."--that those who died in the Great War died for nothing.


Robert Graves, Two Fusiliers

And have we done with War at last? 
Well, we’ve been lucky devils both, 
And there’s no need of pledge or oath 
To bind our lovely friendship fast, 
By firmer stuff
Close bound enough. 
 
By wire and wood and stake we’re bound, 
By Fricourt and by Festubert, 
By whipping rain, by the sun’s glare, 
By all the misery and loud sound,
By a Spring day, 
By Picard clay. 
 
Show me the two so closely bound 
As we, by the red bond of blood, 
By friendship, blossoming from mud,
By Death: we faced him, and we found 
Beauty in Death, 
In dead men breath.

[Miles (a sailor)Martin]

HAND SALUTE

 READY

 POST




Nov 11(Veterans Day) not as emphasised in the US as may 31(Memorial Day)
it has not been emphasised at least since 1967-74
 the radical social engineers of that time have a lot to answer for.

I myself served 78-88 USN , my older sister just retired 34 years in the US ARMY, brother in law 24yrs USAF, lost one uncle in the 8th AF and one in the Philippines 20th coast artillery, aunt in the WASP program, father was Japanese occupation force then 45th OK NG div in Korea, one cousin in Vietnam (helo pilot),his little brother was USN airdale for 6yrs.  as far as i know for sure i did not have anyone in WW1, but the family records are spotty from 1875-1920, and three uncles and four cousins just are not there any more. as for the Great Unpleasantness of 1861-65 i had  one at Shiloh in the CSA he was a sharpshooter and wounded then sent home to recover(from his fiance's diary),a nother was in a follow on regiment at the battle of the crater but survived (also from his fiance's diary).
 PS CSA member was Cherokee/Creek/Scot/Irish
PPS Union member was Irish emigrant draftee
     
 sorry i sometime suffer from runaway brain syndrome as you might have noticed.     

[Steamhappi]

To all those who served and to all those who are serving now, you have my heart-felt appreciation.

[Lucius Voltaic]

My uncle was a submariner for some years; my maternal grandfather (son of the WWI great-grandfather) was a transport pilot in WWII; my paternal grandmother's grandfather was in the Civil War (CSA, sorry to say); and I think I have an ancestor in the Revolution, but I'm not certain.

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

And, Sir Nikolas, I agree with your appreciation of human life, but I bristle at your cavalier use of the phrase "throwing away lives". I won't get into the politics of current wars, but it disturbs me greatly to hear your implication--"still throwing away lives..."--that those who died in the Great War died for nothing.

Please pardon the delay, I've written and re-written this several times.

You're welcome to your opinion. Ordinarily, I'd ask you to afford me the same courtesy. This time, however, I've got to concede that you're right, to say that the lives lost in the first world war were wasted was out-of-order, and I'm deeply sorry that I offended you.

If you want to discuss the matter further, please don't hesitate to PM me.

[darkshines]

Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen

One of the greatest war poems, in my opinion. I studied the works of Sassoon and Owen, as well as other war poets, when I was in high school. I respected our soldiers before, but after studying their words, I now find myself weeping at the meer thought of their suffering. I am proud to live in a free country that great men and women have died for. I am grateful for my freedom.