The PH Remembrance thread - our thoughts and thanks
Discussion
I thought that it would be a nice thing for us to do as a collective community to remember together our fallen, and share our thoughts and experiences with each other so that we may, in our own little way, do our bit for the memories of those who paid a terrible price for our own freedom.
I do not have any personal ties (that I am aware of) with members of the war effort whom served in WW1, but I do have intense admiration and respect for those who did.
I always take some time to stop and think on Rememrance Sunday in order to bring myself back to a sense of reality, that we are so very lucky to have the things that we do, even with all the doom and gloom of the 'credit crunch' and 'global warming' etc, at least we do not have to fight like we did all those years ago.
Of course it would be irresponsible of me to not think of those currently serving for our country, irrespective of the cause or our thoughts on those wars, nontheless, they are fighting in the name of our country and our queen and we should be proud of them and give them our full support and think of them also, and their fallen fellows too.
Please, join me in remembering the fallen, those brave souls who were lucky and brave enough to return, and those who currently fighting, we thank you all.
Please tell your stories and memories
May your God bless you.
I do not have any personal ties (that I am aware of) with members of the war effort whom served in WW1, but I do have intense admiration and respect for those who did.
I always take some time to stop and think on Rememrance Sunday in order to bring myself back to a sense of reality, that we are so very lucky to have the things that we do, even with all the doom and gloom of the 'credit crunch' and 'global warming' etc, at least we do not have to fight like we did all those years ago.
Of course it would be irresponsible of me to not think of those currently serving for our country, irrespective of the cause or our thoughts on those wars, nontheless, they are fighting in the name of our country and our queen and we should be proud of them and give them our full support and think of them also, and their fallen fellows too.
Please, join me in remembering the fallen, those brave souls who were lucky and brave enough to return, and those who currently fighting, we thank you all.
Please tell your stories and memories
May your God bless you.
I've always had a keen sense of history, studying the subject to degree level. However it was a visit to the Great War battlefields which really brought home to me the scale of sacrifice of an entire generation. The Allied war memorial at Thiepval is a stirring place, and the realisation of the sheer scale of the casualties suffered, by both sides, in such a short space of time is sobering to say the least.
We must never forget.
In Flanders fields - Lt John McRae
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.
We must never forget.
In Flanders fields - Lt John McRae
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.
We have a duty to remember and thank all those who have sacrificed their lives to defend our homes and our loved ones, and the principles for which we stand. We live in an increasingly cynical and materialistic world, where honour and duty seem to be qualities many find unnecessary and inconsequential, but we are all part of a great nation, and we have asked our armed forces to lay down their lives for our beliefs on numerous occasions, and I feel proud to be able to salute them all for what they have done.We must never forget.
This is a topic that is very close to my heart. My father served 37 years in the Parachute Regiment (retired this year), my grandfather also served 20 years in the armed forces drawing maps of the defensive lines; a perilous job involoving being in "no mans land" for sometimes days at a time drawing the defenses. I feel a great sense of pride when i think about what those men and women endured in the two great wars, to grant us the liberity we enjoy so freely today. I will be going to service on sunday, not that i am a religious man, but to pay respects and remember those that had no choice. Those that had to find solace and strength in the darkest of hours. The courage required to walk into what was obivously clear a killing zone, almost makes me cry. I will never forget, neither will my future children. We owe so much to those that fought to protect our liberity, those faceless fallen heros deserve more then a 2 min silence, but this fact is lost on so many. When you buy a poppy ladies and gents, pay with 'paper' money..... its the least we can do.
Robert James Hayward
GingerWizard
Robert James Hayward
GingerWizard
Laurence Binyon said:
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 condemn.
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.
The fourth verse is the most famous reading at rememberance services but, regardless of how often I hear it, it still send a chill up my spine.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 condemn.
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.
All of our thoughts to those that have lost a loved one defending everything that we hold dear.
Mark
My father's side of the family who served in the first war are discussed in my post HERE. Extraordinarily ordinary men, I suppose.
From my own life, I raise a glass to Will, Richard and Alex, who are all serving soldiers and who deserve recognition and respect because if people like them didn't choose to serve, people like me might be compelled to. Good work, boys, and I hope the 2 of you who are in hot sandy places right now, come home safe.
From my own life, I raise a glass to Will, Richard and Alex, who are all serving soldiers and who deserve recognition and respect because if people like them didn't choose to serve, people like me might be compelled to. Good work, boys, and I hope the 2 of you who are in hot sandy places right now, come home safe.
Edited by Quaint on Friday 7th November 12:03
I remember as a kid buying a poppy and never really grasping what it was about. Even when older and having studied it at school, it was always hard to grasp the scale of what had happened.
Then we set about finding my grandfather's brother's grave in France, and spent a week visiting the wargraves in France and Belgium.
A truly mind opening experience that changed me forever. When you drive through the countryside and see gravesite after gravesite after gravesite, each one full of hundreds of headstones and mass burial pits, read the comments in the books of memory at those sites, only then do you truly realise how significant the event was.
I think the most moving site for me was at the Somme,the Thiepval Memorial:
each of the 4 faces of the 16 columns of the memorial are covered in names of soldiers (most of which were my age when I was there) and these are just the names of the soldiers who were missing, ie whose bodies they never found!!!
A truly moving experience I would recommend to everyone - especially to take your kids to see what happened and so we never forget the sacrifice made by so very many people all those years ago.
The experience stopped me giving my token 50p to the poppy appeal because I thought I had to, and nowadays I try to give as much as I can afford to - after all what are a few beer tokens donated to a cause like that compared to the sacrifices made by the soldiers then, since and now?
Then we set about finding my grandfather's brother's grave in France, and spent a week visiting the wargraves in France and Belgium.
A truly mind opening experience that changed me forever. When you drive through the countryside and see gravesite after gravesite after gravesite, each one full of hundreds of headstones and mass burial pits, read the comments in the books of memory at those sites, only then do you truly realise how significant the event was.
I think the most moving site for me was at the Somme,the Thiepval Memorial:
each of the 4 faces of the 16 columns of the memorial are covered in names of soldiers (most of which were my age when I was there) and these are just the names of the soldiers who were missing, ie whose bodies they never found!!!
A truly moving experience I would recommend to everyone - especially to take your kids to see what happened and so we never forget the sacrifice made by so very many people all those years ago.
The experience stopped me giving my token 50p to the poppy appeal because I thought I had to, and nowadays I try to give as much as I can afford to - after all what are a few beer tokens donated to a cause like that compared to the sacrifices made by the soldiers then, since and now?
Edited by filski666 on Friday 7th November 12:05
Mutley said:
Smiler. said:
...Incidentally, I was in a book shop last weekend & they had a white poppy collection box - what's all that about?
IIRC, White Poppies are for the civilian fallenEdit: Nope, Mutley is half right and I'm completely wrong, it's for everyone who has ever died in a war, both military and civilians.
Someone once told me is was to created by a pacifist charity and there was a heated argument between them and a red poppy fan who said that they were effectively pissing on the memory of dead soldiers and stealing money from the injured soldiers and their families that benefitted from the red poppy collections.
Edited by MentalSarcasm on Friday 7th November 14:13
Edited by MentalSarcasm on Friday 7th November 14:13
Sorry 'bout that, I got halfway through my reply when i wondered how right i was.
I shall, as usual, be attending my local parade on Sunday, if it wasn't for those who came before, and those who currently Are putting themselves on the line, would we have half the liberties we have now?
I shall, as usual, be attending my local parade on Sunday, if it wasn't for those who came before, and those who currently Are putting themselves on the line, would we have half the liberties we have now?
I shall be attending a parade on Sunday, wearing a red poppy.
I don't we can thank those who fought in the wars enough, we tend to think mainly of WW1 & WW2,and not of those who have been in other wars.
Last night I was at a concert, through work which I would not normally have gone to, but glad I did! They played the Last Post, with old soldiers stood at the front of the room, sent a shiver down my spine!
Then at the end they thanked us for attending! Really was a pleasure to shake their hands & say Thank you
I don't we can thank those who fought in the wars enough, we tend to think mainly of WW1 & WW2,and not of those who have been in other wars.
Last night I was at a concert, through work which I would not normally have gone to, but glad I did! They played the Last Post, with old soldiers stood at the front of the room, sent a shiver down my spine!
Then at the end they thanked us for attending! Really was a pleasure to shake their hands & say Thank you
My grandmother died recently, and I've been given custody of the medals that her father won in WW1 - hoping to have the restored to their former glory.
It was only about 3 or 4 years ago that my Dad took her to visit her brother's grave in Ypres - he died 3 days before the end of WW2.
Makes you wonder what these people went through. "Thank you" just seems so inadequate. Happy to wear my poppy with pride.
It was only about 3 or 4 years ago that my Dad took her to visit her brother's grave in Ypres - he died 3 days before the end of WW2.
Makes you wonder what these people went through. "Thank you" just seems so inadequate. Happy to wear my poppy with pride.
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