Lest We Forget!

Lest we forget indeed. I fear that the human race has a very short memory and looking at the state of the world now only confirms my view. Man's inhumanity to man is as great now as it was 100 years ago, a lot of us simply don't care as long as it doesn't affect us in our little flimsy cocoon. Money, exploitation, destruction, leaders wishes to stay in power at all costs and religious intolerance rules. It seems we have a built in self destruction button. Reminds me of that song 'In the year 2525, if man is still alive, if woman can survive'. Rich 

Thanks for posting this Tony. 

My family was lucky in WW1,  both my grandfathers survived after both seeing action in Gallipoli & Palestine albeit in separate units,  one was in the Royal Bucks Hussars (horse regiment), the other The London Regiment (infantry).   

My father was in 10 Parachute Battalion & died at Arnhem.  So while I always remember on 11/11,  19th September is another day for reflection.        

Yes, thank you Tony2011.

My Dad's dad was in Monty's 8th Army as a gunner in the artillery and went through the Africa campaign and onto Italy. He survived the war in terms of not being shot or blown up but died in 1949 from diseases brought on by its hardships. I managed to see his Army record book many years ago and he appeared to have absconded quite a few times. His punishment was being put back in the regiment.

My mother was a war baby and her Dad from the Shropshire Regiment on duty in the north-east scarpered once the conflict was over. i suppose there was a huge number of people on the move and disruption to everyday life.

Ray

Mike-B posted:

Thanks for posting this Tony. 

My family was lucky in WW1,  both my grandfathers survived after both seeing action in Gallipoli & Palestine albeit in separate units,  one was in the Royal Bucks Hussars (horse regiment), the other The London Regiment (infantry).   

My father was in 10 Parachute Battalion & died at Arnhem.  So while I always remember on 11/11,  19th September is another day for reflection.        

Mike,

My deepest sympathy. My father was 19 when he was sent to North Africa in 1941 with the army. He was involved in Algeria, Libya and then Italy. We know he was wounded by the ugly scars on his neck though like most he would never talk about it. At least he made it home in one piece in 1946 otherwise I would not be writing this.

I sometimes feel that everything they fought for in WW2 together with those in WW1 is of no consequence anymore as the liberal, PC, Common Purpose Snowflakes have their own agenda and care nothing for the ultimate sacrifice made by our fathers and grandfathers.

Thanks S.W.Stokie.    

Southweststokie posted:

I sometimes feel that everything they fought for in WW2 together with those in WW1 is of no consequence anymore as the liberal, PC, Common Purpose Snowflakes have their own agenda and care nothing for the ultimate sacrifice made by our fathers and grandfathers.

 

Not everybody has the same perspective when it comes to commemorating the wars.

My dad took part in the D Day landings and managed to get through Europe and Palestine unscathed, but, he didn’t attend any Nov 11^th memorials and I’d go so far as to say he despised the British Legion.

He used to enjoy watching the D Day commemorations on TV, particularly mocking and laughing at the veterans. I suppose he earned the right to do so, but he have got pretty annoyed if you’d have suggested that to him.

Indeed Fatcat, war effects everyone so very differently. One thing is an absolute certainty though, participation in any war changes you, either so very slightly or so very much that no one who knew you before even recongnises you anymore, from the person you were - for ever.

… and then there are us whose relatives were on the other side. 

      A few of the 18,000 crosses at the Auckland war memorial. New Zealand lost 1 in 5 soldiers and 1:20 of the adult male population up to age 50. Very sad, hopefully never again.

I am a frequent visitor to the Somme. However, my Grandad was wounded at Anzio and taken prisoner. He would never talk about it even though crippled by his wounds.

He has been gone nearly 40 years but I decided recently to do some research on what he went through. I now understand his reluctance to talk about it. He was a part of the 2/7th Queens in the Battle of the Caves for those above mentioning the Italy campaign.

Stu

Two grandparents involved in WWI. One lost most of his arm, and died a few years after the war, the other suffered the effects of gas and was invalided home. He died was I was very young.

I found the WWI museum in the Ypres Cloth Hall extremely moving when we visited a few years ago, in part at least due to the incredibly mournful and strange music from Tindersticks that plays on a continuous loop. However what always strikes me on our holidays in France is that even the tiniest hamlet has a war memorial and a list of casualties, many obviously from the same family.

In terms of 'forgetting' I think we should always remember that Germany and Russia suffered about 1.7m deaths, France 1.3m (the highest percentage of those mobilised) and the British Empire 0.9m. We can have a very anglocentric view of these things. I thought it was good (if criminally overdue) to see the German President represented at the Cenotaph this year, although I note my parents (teenagers in WWII) felt otherwise.

Oh, and incidentally the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 killed some 40-50m worldwide, and approximately 230,000 in the UK alone. Not just the frail and elderly by the way; nearly half the deaths in the US for example were in people aged 20-40yrs

Bruce