Rememberance Day

[SloopJonB]

Watching the ceremonies today and realizing, once again, just how old the GG vets are, got me thinking about their lives. I'd like to know what you all think about my following comments.

Everyone who is aware of the war knows about what they went through and the sacrifices they made - terror, death, wounds, deprivation, rationing etc. etc. To most people those things WERE the sacrifice they made for our comfortable and free lives. They went through it for up to five years until victory and then got back to normality. I think that pretty well describes most peoples overall thoughts on the subject.

While they did indeed suffer all those things, in ways most of us can't even imagine, what I think they really sacrificed was their youth. They went straight from childhood to adulthood without that transition period in our 20's that we enjoyed. When I was the age they joined up at, I was working at a well paying job, buying toys like an E-Type Jag, a Porsche, my first sailboat and expensive stereo gear. I got to chase girls (even catch a few ) and have a very enjoyable time of little responsibility. Once I met my wife at age 29 and we had kids, real life started.

The GG vets irretrievably missed that very nice stretch of life. Instead they went to war. When it was over, due to their experiences, they were already at the marriage & kids "real life" point. I think that's why, when you look at old movies, documentaries etc, there are no "kids" in their twenties, no transitional group between the children and adults.

I got to enjoy that time for about twice as long as they had to fight so maybe I got their share as well.

Anybody else ever see it that way? (Obviously Viet Nam & Gulf War vets need not respond.)

[killarney_sailor]

I am in an unusual situation - my father was a WW I and II vet. He joined the army in Montreal at age 15 and was 15 1/2 at Vimy. Was in the tiny Canadian army between the wars and was a sergeant-major in WW II until he was released (in 1944 I think) for health reasons. I certainly had it very good with no wars for Canada in my lifetime (I guess Korea when I was 4 or 5 years old) until Afghanistan. For the most part experienced good economic times and the opportunities to do what I wanted. I agree, those of our generation do have it pretty good.

[chall03]

I think I get what you are saying.

Yesterday here in Australia we all stopped for a minute's silence to remember the sacrifices our vets made....

The sad reality is that my generation struggles to remember. I personally struggle even to truly comprehend. While I get it intellectually and I applaud these great men, it is hard to really even get close to imagining what these guys lived through.

I know nothing of a time so uncertain that the very direction of the world and your own existence were at stake. I grew up in the nineties, we were so full of our own dreams, we were taught to plan for our future,to go to university, to study,get great jobs and invest our money.....to plan for our great future.
Largely it has paid off, my generation has nice things, comfortable lives and certainty. To imagine casting your future, your dreams and your life aside, to leave loves ones behind and head to the otherside of the world to do your duty defending your country is something I will never be able to understand. Yet I feel it is my duty to try, to not forget what was done in order that we have the lives we have.

[Dog Ship]

Rememberance day is a day that is close to my heart and memories. No matter where I have been I have always tried to recognized a moments silence.
I am the first generation in my family to have never experienced war. Whether that be global, civil or a clan war.
My father was a WWII vet, both my Grandfathers were WWI vets and my mother and Grandmothers were all RN's treating the wounded.
My grandfather would talk about the first WW freely. I remember as a very young lad, wide eyed, sitting on his knee as he would tell me about his exploits through Northern Africa and India. He loved sharing his stories.
My father, at 15, lied about his age so he could go to war and defend his country, England. He rarely talked about the war.
There are two German Soldiers Marksman Medals in his collection and I have always wondered about those two German Soldiers. I still have all of my forfathers medals and those two German Soldiers Medals. I cherish them all, deeply.
I have tried to instill my faded memories I have from my parents and Grandparents in my daughter and she has graciously listened to some degree but ultimately, she is two generations removed and is busy with life. I look at her busy life is a gift from my forfathers.
Lest we forget.
Peter

[ssneade]

Originally Posted by SloopJonB

Watching the ceremonies today and realizing, once again, just how old the GG vets are, got me thinking about their lives. I'd like to know what you all think about my following comments.

Everyone who is aware of the war knows about what they went through and the sacrifices they made - terror, death, wounds, deprivation, rationing etc. etc. To most people those things WERE the sacrifice they made for our comfortable and free lives. They went through it for up to five years until victory and then got back to normality. I think that pretty well describes most peoples overall thoughts on the subject.

While they did indeed suffer all those things, in ways most of us can't even imagine, what I think they really sacrificed was their youth. They went straight from childhood to adulthood without that transition period in our 20's that we enjoyed. When I was the age they joined up at, I was working at a well paying job, buying toys like an E-Type Jag, a Porsche, my first sailboat and expensive stereo gear. I got to chase girls (even catch a few ) and have a very enjoyable time of little responsibility. Once I met my wife at age 29 and we had kids, real life started.

The GG vets irretrievably missed that very nice stretch of life. Instead they went to war. When it was over, due to their experiences, they were already at the marriage & kids "real life" point. I think that's why, when you look at old movies, documentaries etc, there are no "kids" in their twenties, no transitional group between the children and adults.

I got to enjoy that time for about twice as long as they had to fight so maybe I got their share as well.

Anybody else ever see it that way? (Obviously Viet Nam & Gulf War vets need not respond.)

well said, sloopy. well said......

the lack of response to this thread shows a lot about the worlds disinterest and appreciation of our military, which through their sacrifices, enables us to live free.....

[PaulfromNWOnt]

Yesterday I was thinking about how people are showing less and less interest in Rememberance Day. It's sad to think of how what these men did is being lost on the younger generations, but at the same time it speaks volumes about the tremendous job that they did. At the start of WWII, WWI was still fresh in the minds of many, yet here we are with almost no-one left who can give a first hand account of WWII.

Today our global instability is economic, not political. We can thank those who went before for showing us the horror of greed on that scale, and the folly.

I'm sorry, I'm rambling. In short what I'm saying is that they did such a good job that it's no longer at the top of our worry list.

[ebs001]

As I walked home from work yesterday morning, Nov 11th, two jets flew over me and then seven helicopters with one peeling off in the lost man manuever. Almost everyone I saw, young and old, were wearing poppies to commemerate Remembrance Day. If anything I was stuck by how many people acknoldge in their own way rememberence Day. Later on the news I saw that hundreds of school age children were taken to the Canadian War Museum. I learned from friends that were in the military and attended the ceremony at the Canadian War Memorial here that further hundreds of children were at those ceremonies. Another friend told of constuction workers on her jobsite observing three minutes silence at 11:00AM. From my observations I would say that there is a renewed respect for what our miltary men and women have done.
Below is the poem which leads to Canadians wearing poppies on Remberance Day. It always gives me the chills.

In Flanders Field

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by ebs001

As I walked home from work yesterday morning, Nov 11th, two jets flew over me and then seven helicopters with one peeling off in the lost man manuever. Almost everyone I saw, young and old, were wearing poppies to commemerate Remembrance Day. If anything I was stuck by how many people acknoldge in their own way rememberence Day. Later on the news I saw that hundreds of school age children were taken to the Canadian War Museum. I learned from friends that were in the military and attended the ceremony at the Canadian War Memorial here that further hundreds of children were at those ceremonies. Another friend told of constuction workers on her jobsite observing three minutes silence at 11:00AM. From my observations I would say that there is a renewed respect for what our miltary men and women have done.
Below is the poem which leads to Canadians wearing poppies on Remberance Day. It always gives me the chills.

In Flanders Field

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

I think it inevitable that the lack of understanding and involvement of the young will cause the meaning of the day to gradually slip away until it becomes a formality. Unless they study history thoroughly there is no way they can really comprehend what was done for their futures. It was just too long ago.

As to McCrae's poem, I agree it is extremely moving, especially if you have ever seen even a picture of one of those horizon to horizon cemeteries.

I have long felt it unfortunate that both it and November 11th were in response to WWI which I regard as one of the most stupid, meaningless, purely political blunders in history. Triggered by an incident of petty feuding, started by stupid politicians who couldn't figure out a way to back off and run by idiot Generals like Haig. It was nothing but a hellish fiasco from beginning to end. It accomplished nothing, at the cost of an entire generation. The uncounted thousands who died in it were more victims than heroes to my mind. It's as if Americas primary honours to it's dead soldiers were based on Viet Nam.

Far better, I think, to base our remembrances on WWII where they really did accomplish something - saving the entire world from hellish tyranny and a repetition of the Dark Ages.