u can talk some pish at times
but well done to u for this thread

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

Indeed, especially our boys in Iraq at the moment.

Good onya mate.

Thank you Jim

I agree !! (on both points)

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

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 ........

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.

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

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

Must admit, I was up Pacific fair shopping centre hardly anyone stopped 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

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

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

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

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.