BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)

Subject: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 02:54 PM

Please moderate. Yes..it would prove to have been necessary. In memory of all who died or are still living. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 06:53 PM

Those who gave up their tomorrows so that we would be assured of ours, and those who accepted the burden of living with the horrors they saw, so that we would not have to feel the pain they endure.

Their sacrifice must never be forgotten, lest it be necessary for it to happen again.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: BTNG
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 07:05 PM

For The Fallen
Lawrence Binyon

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

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 08:20 PM

Our Craft group will be observing the minute silence on Friday. The group is a church activity & is run by Australian & Japanese women & the Japanese congegation's minister. The Japanese members are probably the daughters & grand-daughters of WW2 soldiers ("the enemy") & great-granddaughters of WW1 soldiers (The Allies), & the Australian women are probably daughters & wives or sisters of men who served in WW2, & the daughters & granddaughters of men who served in WW1.

I remember my grandmother's brother who died in France in 1917 & my grandfather & her brothers who returned from that war, & my father's cousin who died in New Guinea in 1942.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: BTNG
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 08:29 PM

I've lost count of our family dead in both world wars I come from a very large family, I remember who I can.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 09:14 PM

Sam I am, that history makes us brothers.

Professor Taylor taught a year-long course on the history of human conflict. He had been an officer in the Royal Marines. Never once did he glorify war. He knew its terrible reality, and on the 11 November he put on his office door a photograph of a military person: no rank, no badges, no nationality. Thereupon was pinned a poppy.

B

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 09:25 PM

I'll be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at a reunion of veterans of the Korean DMZ War (look it up).

There will be more than just a moment of silence.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice/Veterans Day USA - monitored
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 11 - 09:59 PM

At the church youth group meeting last night, we made Christmas cards for men and women serving overseas. I signed mine, "SP5 Joe, Berlin Brigade, 1970-73." I told a couple of people, "I thought I'd play the veteran card, because it might mean something to the person who receives it." One high school kid heard me, and he asked me what I did in the service. I told him I was a German linguist in Berlin. He said, "Thank you for your service."

I'd heard that phrase, "Thank you for your service," a few times recently, so I figured it must be the mantra of some campaign. Nonetheless, it struck me; and it made me feel good to hear a high school kid say that. I've been a committed pacifist for most of my life, but I'm still proud to have served my country.

So, to my fellow veterans: Thank you for your service.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: eddie1
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 04:29 AM

I find it rather sad that in the UK, most of the emphasis has moved to "Remembrance Sunday".
As a small child, just after WW2 in Edinburgh, I remember cars (not too many back then!), buses, trams and indeed all road traffic in the city centre, would stop just before 11.00am. The famous "One o'clock Gun" would fire to mark the beginning and end of the 2-minute silence.

Lest we forget!

Eddie

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Megan L
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 04:39 AM

War dead

In 1983 my new husband and I stood in a small churchyard in Wales looking sadly at a row of shiny gravestones each had the age of the young man each one had been on the Galahad. I remembered thinking that somewhere in Argentina someone could be standing beside a row of graves or a memorial for equally young lads from the Belgrano.


See my name all you who pass by
As you are now so once was I.
I was a son whose mother wept
I was the husband whose wife kept
A light in the window lest I should come
To find my way once more back home.
I was the brother whose sisters tears
shall wash my stone
I was the lover who will not come
the one who left you here alone.
I am your love
the memory that will not die
My name it matters not anymore
Rhys or Ramone we are the same
In death, a memory and nothing more

MHTBL

Time passes the futility and pain of war never does

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 06:11 AM

"I remembered thinking that somewhere in Argentina someone could be standing beside a row of graves or a memorial for equally young lads from the Belgrano."

Indeed someone will be, every day of the year at the Malvinas Memorial in Plaza San Martin, near to Retiro in Buenos Aires. We always visit this when in BA.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 06:14 AM

Many schools keep a silence at 11.
Mine does.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 07:12 AM

Last year I was with a friend at a garden centre. There was an announcement a good ten mins before 11am to advise people of the two minutes' observance. Neverthless, while everybody stood quietly for the allotted time, a woman and her daughter chatted very loudly throughout. I merely tutted, but afterwards the two approached me, guns blazing, to demand, "How dare I tut? They had every right to speak!" I pointed out we had a right (and the Fallen had a right) to a paltry 2 mins of respect, and if they were against it, why hadn't they exited before it began? I added that it was ill-mannered and disrespectful of them, and that I had been honouring the dead from my own family, uncles and a grandfather. I also said that without the sacrifices made, they would now be living a quite different life. I only got more abuse, so we shoved off! But I wonder now, were they right, and do we intrude too much with this?

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 07:37 AM

Jimmy Clay
(Patrick Sky)

When you walk down the street, who will follow you?
Six o'clock, its getting late.
The moon it is rising as the sticky dew
Molds on the ground by the gate.
With your rifle on your shoulder as you walk along
Listening to your boot-heels hit the sod
Smoking your cigar as you hum a song
Thinking of your mother, and your God

Ah, but you're alone, Jimmy Clay
As you smoke your cigar and earn your pay.
And fifteen thousand soldiers are marching by your side
Still you're alone, Jimmy Clay.

And remember New York town, good old New York town?
The friends, the drinks, the cops and all
And the whores who took your money when you couldn't stand
And all the roaring nights you can't recall?
And remember Alice Fay, good old Alice Fay?
She'd been through life at least ten times around
And when she said she loved you, well she meant it, boy
Remember the night you nearly drowned?

Ah, but you're alone, Jimmy Clay
As you smoke your cigar and think of yesterday
Well, yesterday don't matter when its gone away
Where did it go, Jimmy Clay?

So as you lie there in the mud, who will talk to you?
Nobody, Jimmy Clay
For when you're gone mankind follows after you
Doesn't it, Jimmy Clay?
And your face is growing moldy where they kissed your cheek
And said "Please die for us, Jimmy Clay"
And so you died a soldier and a hero's death
Congratulations, Jimmy Clay.

Now you're alone, Jimmy Clay
You can smoke your cigar, and earn your pay
And somewhere in the distance you can hear the fiddle play
But not one note will change, Jimmy Clay


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 08:29 AM

But I wonder now, were they right, and do we intrude too much with this?

I don't think so. My father was in the army and told me so many stories of his work during the second world war. The two minutes silence is very important to me. For most people it is not difficult to avoid being in a public place for that two minutes. For those who cannot avoid it and wish to talk they could go into the toilets and continue their chatter there. It is a matter of respect.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 08:33 AM

Eliza I can understand your reaction 2 minutes of silence remembering not only those who lost their lives then but the service boys and girls getting killed now is the least we can do.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 08:55 AM

Just tell them that if they can't be quiet at least have the courtesy to use their mouths for the sounds.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 11:53 AM

I'm glad others share my view! In Norwich a while back, I was moved to see the firemen outside the (now no longer there) fire station, lined up with heads bowed for the Silence. I do feel two minutes isn't long to ask for.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: gnu
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 02:52 PM

Eliza... that makes my blood boil.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: BTNG
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 03:29 PM

You gently remind that sort that their fathers/uncles/cousins/brothers/sisters may well have died defending their right to be rude and obnoxious...it does work.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 03:30 PM

Veterans Day and Memorial Day remind me of my Daddy and one Memorial Day parade when I was about 8 or 9. My Dad had just retired from 27 years military service. He was standing at attention and tears were streaming down his face as a troop very elderly gentlemen and ladies in uniform from the local VFW and military band passed us. I can't remember what I asked him or what his answer was, (I think I asked why he was sad) but since then these dates have been marked by that memory and a sensation of awe and respect.

Subject: RE: BS: Amistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Ed T
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 03:44 PM

I observe Remembrance Day and attend the events on that day. In the city where I now live, which is a Navy town, there are crowds of people in attendance each year, regardless of the weather.

My father was a WW One Veteran, and my Mother, now 97, still participates in the Remembrance Day events (on my fathers behalf) sponsored by the local Legion in her community.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 07:53 PM

Joe, my brother was working as a volunteer at the local Veterans' Hospital when a group of teenagers came through on Veterans' Day. The kids made a point to thank him and other vets for their service and, if I remember correctly, they also gave them each a card and small gift. Like you, he was a linguist in Germany and has been a pacifist most of his adult life, but he is still very proud of having served and was quite appreciative to learn that young folks remember.

To all of my uncles who served and, esp. the wounded who later took his own life from the horror of what he lived with after. They are remembered.

Megan, your words always astound me...such incredible ways of speaking the truth, beauty, sorrow, and other emotions of life. Thank you and I agree with time passing, but not the horrors of war.

My heart sorrows for all who've gone, who are in conflicts now, and for those who served in other ways which may not be recognised.

May all of this world find Peace Profound and bring about no need to remember any more than have already gone.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,Steve in Idaho
Date: 08 Nov 11 - 10:25 PM

Ah yes - the two minutes of silence - to me it was the stupidity of those who signed the armistice, and agreed to it days before, that they let the killing go on for those several hours instead of ending the war on the spot. Which they could well have done.

Sure is a different scene today from when those of us in the Vietnam debacle came back. I firmly believe it is simply because to not be nice to the Veteran's of today could get someone's butt kicked by one of us who remember how they could have been treated.

So Semper Fidelis to those who served and Thanks to those that supported Veterans immaterial of their cause or time -

Steve
Cpl of Marines

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 01:10 AM

This Sunday we meet in Royal British Legion Hay-on-Wye before our service.

Keith
321 EOD

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 10:25 AM

A few years ago I was in the little town of Moosup, CT. and met a fellow there who said they hold their own rememberance day for the Japanese campaign. I wonder if it still takes place? I hope so.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 02:54 PM

What was the Japanese campaign?

And young people..read what Cpl. Steve had to say. Do not believe people who say it was not true. It was true, and destroyed so many lives, who were so carefully saved in the war itself. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: olddude
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:00 PM

I wrote this one to remember a couple a years ago
memorial day

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: BTNG
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:09 PM

Oh dear....

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:33 PM

A beautiful song, Dan.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: olddude
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:39 PM

I post only so I remember not for me but for them. Ron Bankley once said say it in song.
Thank you Jean

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: olddude
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:53 PM

An absolutely breath taking reading by our Eanjay
eanjay

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 03:59 PM

Thank you, Dan. I was thinking about my father last night and I decided to recite that poem for him and also for my mother who supported him so well in his army career which was so important to him.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 04:01 PM

I meant to say that both of my parents are dead so I also remember for them.

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 09:22 PM

Ah Mary Garvey - how be ya Lass?

I've been a tad remiss in my posting here. I do see a new civility that is quite refreshing also! I suppose I should drop in more often just to say Hello.

You all be well - and to the Marines - tomorrow is 236 years of the Marine Corps standing in for all of us. Yes even I acknowledge that piece. I have a picture my wife hung on the wall in our hallway. I'm dancing with a young lady named Lynn Olsen and wearing my US Marine uniform. 49 years ago tomorrow. I was the youngest Marine at the Birthday Ball of 1962.

So be well all of you -
Semper Fidelis
Steve in Idaho
Former Cpl of Marines

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: CET
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 08:41 PM

Eliza:

It sounds like you were a hell of a lot more polite than I would have been. Good on you.

My respect to all Catters who are now serving or have served, and to all those who will be rememberng someone who wore a uniform.


Edmund

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 10:22 AM

I get uneasy when "Honouring the Dead" moves past "Respecting the Living" to something perilously close to "Backing the War".

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 12:21 PM

For that very reason I celebrate the end of war today, rather than the people who survived them.

And today I got to do it at 11:11 on 11.11.11. That won't roll around for another 100 years...

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: open mike
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 01:47 PM

On this day I want to stop and think about http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
and give a listen to Eric Bogle's song
"The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"
(scroll down to see link )

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: open mike
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 03:07 PM

John Mccutcheon sing this song in concert last night, on Veterans' Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTXhZ4uR6rs

Subject: RE: BS: Armistice Day 2011 (Moderated please)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Nov 11 - 06:46 AM

"Remember Them?"