Lest we forget...

Hello all. I'm posting this a day early, because I probably won't be online tomorrow. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day in Canada; a day to remember and honor those men and women who have fallen so that the rest of us may live in freedom. It is also my son's birthday. So tomorrow, before there are any gifts opened or cake eaten, my son and I will carry on our annual tradition of attending the ceremony at our local cenotaph on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and taking a bit of time out of our day to contemplate how good we have it, and what price others had to pay for us to have it so good.

Happy Remembrance Day all...

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

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.

do you guys wear poppies?

Strange as it is, I do miss Remembrance Day back home.

I lost 3 great-uncles in WW2.
Many of their siblings are still around to remember them.

I believe I also lost a couple of great-great-uncles in WW1. I doubt that any of their surviving nieces and nephews remember them

For some godawful, stupid reason, we in the US have changed Armistice Day into Veteran's day, so a lot of people in the US aren't going to know what this day is all about.

Sorry for the rant... but I feel that the memory of the first world war is a terrible thing to water down.

Thank you to all veterans. As they say, freedom isn't free.

Crazed Rabbit

P.S.: The US has fought in many wars were uncommon valor has been shown by our soldiers, and it was decided to not have a holiday for each war, I guess.

Perfect occasion to bring up my favorite poem! Written by an english soldier and it slaps you in the face.


Move him into the sun--
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it awoke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds--
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?


Did I mention you guys rock? Many thanks!

Originally Posted by Fragony

Move him into the sun--
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it awoke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds--
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

Sounds like a late Floyd song... something from "The Final Cut" or something. Really good.

Anybody seen the Oscar nominated film "Hedd Wyn"?

about this boy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedd_Wyn

Originally Posted by Zorba

Sounds like a late Floyd song... something from "The Final Cut" or something. Really good.

It is from Wilfred Owen, he died one week after he wrote this I believe. I can stare it it forever, especially this part,

Think how it(the sun) wakes the seeds--
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?

The poem is called 'futility', especially this line 'was it for this the clay grew tall?' reflects the way he must have felt in that hell. Sitting there with your dead buddy, and just wondering 'why'??

pure genius.

Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

P.S.: The US has fought in many wars were uncommon valor has been shown by our soldiers, and it was decided to not have a holiday for each war, I guess.

As it is here. Remembrance Day is the day we honor all of our fallen; it is not specific to WWI.

The "unofficial words" to Taps.

Words to Taps
(Note: there are no "official" words to Taps
below are the most popular.)

Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.

Go to sleep,
peaceful sleep,
May the soldier
or sailor,
God keep.
On the land
or the deep,
Safe in sleep.

Love, good night,
Must thou go,
When the day,
And the night
Need thee so?
All is well.
Speedeth all
To their rest.

Fades the light;
And afar
Goeth day,
And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well;
Day has gone,
Night is on.

Thanks and praise,
For our days,
'Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.

The link plays the bugle call

http://www.wingtop3.org/taps.htm

When one honors the fallen warriors - Taps always has a special meaning in my soul.

Salute. *bows low*

I hope that all the honourable gentlemen of the Org are wearing their poppies (be they two or four leaved) with pride, and remembering those who died for that which is in my signature...

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares2 we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest3 began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots4
Of tired, outstripped5 Five-Nines6 that dropped behind.

Gas!7 Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets8 just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime9 . . .
Dim, through the misty panes10 and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,11 choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud12
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13
To children ardent14 for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.15

8 October 1917 - March, 1918 - Wilfred Owen

Did that for my GCSE English. Only moving poem in there.

Originally Posted by King Malcolm

I hope that all the honourable gentlemen of the Org are wearing their poppies (be they two or four leaved) with pride, and remembering those who died for that which is in my signature...

Take the king out of their and sure.

do you guys wear poppies?

got one on right now,,,,,,

I ,too, had close relatives in WWII....maybe I'll share later

Remembrance day here and now... 2 hours and it will be 11am.

Later this year (15th December), I'll be going to Ypres. My great-grandfather was stationed there in the First World War. During his time there, he was shot six inches from the heart and also subject to a few gas attacks. He survived the war, but died before I was born. I wish I'd have met him.

Anyway, I had a poppy but it fell off my jumper. I wish they'd make them as badges instead. I think they fall out of the pins far too easily.

I could have quoted a poem of Guillaume Apollinaire, but heh, since you don't speak french...

Anyway, my respects to my great-grand-fathers, great-uncles, who fought and died during the war.
To all the French who died for a few meters of no man's land
To all the Brits who died on the soil of France. Although you're sometimes annoying, your courage shall not be forgotten.
To all the Americans, Australians, Canadians, who fought and died to protect France.
To all the Algerians, Tunisians, who were always sent to the bloodiest fights. To the Cambodians, Vietnamese, Senegalese, who fought for a country that treated them like animals.
To the Russians, Italians, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Turks, etc. who were just as unlucky as us and got caught in this mess.

I can post "Yr Arwr" by Hedd Wyn if anybody wants it.

It'll be in the original Welsh because it's very long and I don't have the time to translate it.

Go for it... I will either google a translation or get my Mum to translate it... good thing that I have made her a Mamgu as that has got me in the good books

My grandfather in WWI.

My old man in WWII.



We're all wearing poppies over here.

You fought us so we could play

You have earnt an honour that will never be lost.

Originally Posted by Meneldil

I could have quoted a poem of Guillaume Apollinaire, but heh, since you don't speak french...

Anyway, my respects to my great-grand-fathers, great-uncles, who fought and died during the war.
To all the French who died for a few meters of no man's land
To all the Brits who died on the soil of France. Although you're sometimes annoying, your courage shall not be forgotten.
To all the Americans, Australians, Canadians, who fought and died to protect France.
To all the Algerians, Tunisians, who were always sent to the bloodiest fights. To the Cambodians, Vietnamese, Senegalese, who fought for a country that treated them like animals.
To the Russians, Italians, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Turks, etc. who were just as unlucky as us and got caught in this mess.

Beautiful tribute.

Anyone who is interested...A book, "Forgotten Voices" is compiled from audio recordings made by the Imperial War Museum, it includes, British, Canadian, US, French, Belgium, & German soldiers, women, & children...It gives a very unique insight into the Great War, through 1914-1918.

A very remarkable man leads the two minutes silence....

here

My poppies are lined up on the divider of my desk, I alwys lose them, one for each year I have worked here.

We should always remember the price paid by others, for us and everyone who comes after.

Yes, had the two minutes silence in school but I have never been able to get the poppy on without pricking myself a few times so I buy it an stick it in my blazer pocket.

Went to a remembrance day talk after school with a bloke called Nigel Cave and he was barking mad...though his history was good. I went to Ypres and the Somme earlier this year

The British National Anthem has been played in some cities in France today, right after or right before the French one.

Ah the sun's shining now on these green fields of France
The warm winds blow gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished under the plough
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in the graveyard it's still No-Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To Man's blind indifference to his fellow-man
To a whole generation who were butchered and damned


And I can't help but wonder now William 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 and the sorrow and the glory, the shame
The killing the dying, the dying, it was all done in vain
For Willie McBride, it all happened again
And again, and again and again and again.

Amen to that.