Lest we not forget
 

Its rememberance day here
Thank-You to all the men and woman who fought and died for freedom so that we can make simple choices in life such as post on internet forums or indeed migrate as we wish.
There are still those less fortunate, lets also remember them too.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Here here.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Couldn't agree more. It is the past that moulds us into the people we are today.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Well done, my thoughts exactly

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Every single one a hero.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

i think as you get older, you appreciate what these people did for you and your country more. i get quite emotional now about it.

god bless all those that perished, and also all those that fought and survived, and lived to tell us their stories.
xx

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Amen to that! :)

My maternal grandfather (a Norfolk man) was the gunnery officer on the submarine HMS Taciturn, while my paternal grandfather was a member of the occupying forces in Germany at the end of WWII.

Both were British, of course; though my paternal grandfather was Irish, while my maternal grandfather was English. :)

Re: Lest we not forget
 

couldnt agree more, but i think its also important that we dont forget all the men and women that have died for their countries during more recent times too.

debbie

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Ditto

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very true :(

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i was watching 'this morning ' this morning i think otr was it yesterday :confused: and there was a young woman with her daughter who lost her hubby 18 months ago and she was saying that before he had died she always thought of poppy day commemorating the loss our 1st and 2nd ww soldiers and didnt really consider recent times. It hit me that i was the same!

she was talking about how the soldiers who were about to go out to fight in iraq had to write letters to their loved ones 'just in case'!! in her case, she got the letter, it was heart rendering!

Re: Lest we not forget
 

poppy day reminds us of all soldiers that defend our country past and present

they are always in our thoughts

jan xx

Re: Lest we not forget
 

As an ex member of the Royal Navy - 25 years - today, for me, is one of the most relevant days of the year. I lost good mates along the way - some in active service and others in accidents.

Thank you for this thread.

Regards

Jim

Re: Lest we not forget
 

no, thank you jim

Re: Lest we not forget
 

most fantastic people ever hats off to all of the brave men and women of all the wars

jan xx

Re: Lest we not forget
 

u can talk some pish at times :p
but well done to u for this thread ;)

Re: Lest we not forget
 

My thoughts will be with the ex-service men and woman and current serving military personal, all the British Legion men and women who I have worked with over the years and the POW's who I have met and have recently died. I will be wearing my poppy proud and standing for the two minutes silence tomorrow.

Well deserved thread cheers Luke
hugs Lace x

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Indeed, especially our boys in Iraq at the moment.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Good onya mate.

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Thank you Jim

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I agree !! (on both points)

Well done Luke - you've gone up a point or two !:)

Re: Lest we not forget
 

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda - Eric Bogle

~Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.


But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.


For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

Lest we forget ........

Re: Lest we not forget
 

The most unnerving observation I made today here in Australia was that I couldnt find one single mention of rememberance day in my daily paper (sydney daily telegraph).
I realise that ozzies have anzac day in april, maybe I was expecting too much to see something in the paper.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Not only was it not mentioned in the papers but the silence was not observed in my workplace, no mention of it. :mad: When I asked one of the more approachable management guys he replied "Oh yes, it is today isn't it" bozo!

Re: Lest we not forget
 

The same thing was posted here last year. I think Anzac day is the biggy in Australia

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Must admit, I was up Pacific fair shopping centre hardly anyone stopped :mad: the centre didn't do anything...... the only place in the centre that I could hear do a beep was a hairdressers. Alot of people just carried on talking and walking around.... I think its so sad :(

Sue

Re: Lest we forget
 

Then I shall not be a hypocrite, I shall adhere to the "when in rome" belief I hold, but still have respect (for ALL who served for our freedom)

Neil

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If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

–Major Michael Davis O’Donnell
1 January 1970

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Remembrance Day makes me think of my mum, who was an armistice baby, born on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It would have been her 84th birthday today.

Hard day for me, I'm afraid.

Sue

Re: Lest we not forget
 

I was saddened to realise this morning when I looked at the calendar that theres been hardly any mention of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month up here.

I appreciate ANZAC day is a big day of remebrance here for the fallen.

So how proud I was to hear my son had mentioned it to his teacher this morning and they had 2 minutes silence in the classroom at 11am.

My son is 7.

We only forget if we allow ourselves to and if we don't teach our children what our forefathers fought so bravely for.

Re: Lest we forget
 

Just at work and a little disgusted no one did the 2 minutes silence. I did my own and just ignored people who tried to talk to me. :mad:

Re: Lest we forget
 

Very moving, thank-you,
Ive posted this somewhere else on BE but for a different reason. Its the Furey's song called "the green fields of france" A song that says many things about war:

How do you do young Willie McBride,
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,
And rest for a while 'neath the warm Summer sun,
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only 19
when you joined the great fall-in in 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willie McBride was it slow and obscene.


Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the Last Post and Chorus
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest


Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back in 1916
In that faithful heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed then forever behind a glass frame
In an old photograph torn, battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.


Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the Last Post and Chorus
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest


The sun now it shines on the green fields of France
There's a warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no barbwire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land
the countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned.


Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the Last Post and Chorus
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest


Now young Willie McBride I can't help wonder why
Do those who lie here know why did they die
Did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and the dying were all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again,
And again and again and again and again


Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the Last Post and Chorus
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest

I find the song quite prolific personally

Re: Lest we not forget
 

I would like to remember my grandfather who died in the trenches on 19th May 1915 and my father who served in India in the 2nd world war and died 7th July 1970, both sadly missed.

Elaine x

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Nice thread, Luke..good on ya

Lest we forget.

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Nice thread.

We had our silence outside the Town Hall, I was suprised this year as all the buses and cars stopped, and nobody tooted. Lest We Forget.

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Elaine, you and youre family must be very proud to have helped give us the lives we have now.

Neil

Re: Lest we not forget
 

Thanks Neil' you made me cry. Yes we are proud but sad that these awful atrocities are still happening all over the world.

Elaine xxx

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Well done your son, and well done everyone who observed the 2 minutes silence.

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I forget the movie based on actual events during ww2, perhaps someone could remind me. ww2 germans and brits at xmas time, against higher ups the men show some humanity and christmas spirit and get together.

Means a lot to me since we are all (afterall) just humans. Its not our fault that politics makes wars, yet we are grateful (and should be) of democracy.

anyway, whats the movie ?

Re: Lest we forget
 

Oh please don't, you'll make me cry! http://britishexpats.com/forum/images/icons/icon11.gif

I love that song, and the Fureys sing it beautifully! The music is just so powerful and haunting...

Karma sent! :)