Only four left now
Posted by: Kevin-W on 18 July 2009
Sad news this morning - Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man, the oldest-ever British male, and one of only three surviving UK Great War veterans, has died.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8157128.stmThat means that there are only WW1 four veterans left now in the entire world - Harry Patch (111), Claude Choules, John Babcock and Frank Buckles, all 108.
It won't be long before before the soldier's experience of the Great War passes from memory into history.
Posted on: 18 July 2009 by Gary S.
Yes, very sad.
As a child I remember watching the Remebrance Day Parades with the hundreds of Chelsea Pensioners proudly marching their way up to the Cenotaph. So sad to see those numbers decline in this way.
Posted on: 18 July 2009 by 555
And now every april I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving their dreams of past glory
I see the old men, all twisted and torn
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask me, what are they Marching for?
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays waltzing matilda
And the old men still answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda Who'll go a-waltzing matilda with me?
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly
Remember the dead, but please don't forget the living.
Always makes me think, particularly given the current pace of operations.
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by JWM
quote:
Remember the dead, but please don't forget the living.
For those may not know, the idea behind the Two Minutes Silence when it was introduced was one minute for those who died and another minute for those who survived.
