A big thank you for all our soldiers PAST AND PRESENT and heart felt hugs and kisses to their families.
God bless you all

Julie

My Dad fought in the second World War, with the medical corps in the Eight Army. He never, ever talked about the atrocities of war, but sometimes would relate a story or two about his time served. He came home with some disabilities, and profound hearing loss due to shrapnel injuries and explosions. Eventually, he died at an early age due to these injuries. But he always considered himself so very lucky and thankful to come home at all.

My grandfather fought in the first world war. He had five children at home, and his young wife died during the flu epidemic. He wasn't allowed to go home to take care of his children, so they were fostered out. It took years for him to get them all back together after the war, but he was also thankful to have been able to come home.

It is the sacrifice of these and all those who fought in the wars, and continue to do so, that we need to remember and be thankful for. All these years on, and I still dissolve into tears during the two minute silence. And especially when I see so many young people who cannot even imagine what war is like, honouring those who served. And so many of the soldiers, airmen and sailors were only teenagers themselves.

It has been interesting, but sad, to read the accounts of soldiers in this thread. The Allied forces who were captured in the Far East had a particularly rough time. And imagine not being allowed to go home and look after your children when your wife had died.

Here is a story about WW II that I find rather heart warming. When my parents first retired, they moved to a retirement village near Cape Town, South Africa. One of their fellow residents was a guy called Wally. He had written a book about his experiences as a prisoner of war (POW) in WW II. I met Wally during a couple of visits to my parents, and I read his book.

Wally had grown up in the former German colony of South West Africa (now Namibia), so he could speak German. He was captured by the Italians, but later was transferred to a POW camp in Germany. The German commanders of the camp found his knowledge of German useful. They brought him into their offices to do some administrative work, relay instructions to the English-speaking POWs, and so on.

From his vantage point, Wally got to see more of the POW camp than his fellow South African POWs could see. There was another section of the camp that housed Russian POWs. I can't remember why the Russian POWs were treated so terribly. Perhaps the Soviet Union wasn't a signatory to the Geneva Convention or something. In any event, that's the way it was. Wally said that the condition of the Russian POWs was deplorable. They were starving, freezing, etc.

Wally wrote that the Red Cross parcels that he and his fellow POWs received were not merely a luxury. They very literally provided them with badly needed calories and other necessities. Actually it was Wally's book that made me realize what a crucial role Red Cross packages played in the survival of POWs in WW II.

Anyway, notwithstanding the fact that they actually needed their own Red Cross supplies for survival, Wally told his fellow South African POWs that the situation in the Russian part of the camp was really dire. When the South Africans heard how badly off the Russians were, they donated some of their supplies to a pool.

Wally then went to intricate lengths to smuggle these supplies to the Russian POWs. He had a handful of Russian counterparts in the office, German-speaking Russian POWs whom the German command also used for administrative duties, translation, etc. Behind the backs of the German guards, Wally passed on to these Russian POWs the supplies from his fellow South Africans. They, in turn, took the supplies back to their section of the camp, and shared them.

By the time I met Wally at my parents' retirement village in the 1990s, an amazing thing had happened. The Russian embassador to South Africa had travelled to Wally's home and had presented him with a medal. The embassador told Wally that, after WW II, returning Russian POWs had reported to their superiors that they would not have come back alive were it not for the supplies they had received from Wally's underground network.

But then, very soon after WW II, the Iron Curtain came down, and there were no diplomatic ties between the Soviet Union and South Africa. It was only when the Cold War ended that diplomatic relations were resumed.

The embassador told Wally that they had had his name on file all those decades and had been waiting for an opportunity to award him a medal.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Please take a moment to remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njK5K_Vk5ys

Remembrance Day - Take 2 Minutes 'A Pittance in Time'

Judy, when we were in Regina in June a local man and woman kind of befriended us and we had dinner with them on the Sunday. He was an ex-service man and he showed us that video you have posted from YouTube.

I actually cried at it in his livingroom and I couldnt remember the title of it when we came home, so I want to thank you very much for posting it.

Two years ago I had the oppourtunity of spending Remembrance Weekend in London and it was something else.

Everywhere you look around Parliament/Westminister there are soldiers, old and young wearing unifrom or medals on plain clothes. At Westminister Abbey there is a Garden of Remembrance made from Poppies which is truly a site to behold - there are poppies planted for every regiment imagineable.

But to stand at Whitehall on Remembrance morning and see Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth lead the Nation in Remembering, was the best moment, all the old veterans male and female marching past - it would bring a tear to a stone.

If my fellow expats get a chance to spend Remembrance Weekend in London before you leave - I would really reccommend it.

Sometimes not so old!

Yes Surrey, lots of young march too, sorry for omitting that

Thank You for posting this Judy.

"Thank you"

I have nothing to give other than words,
words of thanks .....

So, for all of those who deserve these words...........
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My mum and dad are marching again today - both were in the forces
my dad in the Navy and my mum in the Army. I am very proud of both of them and i am thankfull to all those who risk their lives, to try and ensure we live in peace.


WE MUST REMEMBER THEM........... TODAY, TOMORROW AND FOREVER

All those past and present and also in the future.

Thank you judy for giving us the link, i beleive that everyone everywhere should give the 2 minutes no matter what is happening.
My nephew is in iraq and everyday he is there we are thinking of him and the storys that are coming back are horrible.

It maybe my birthday 11/11 but as respect i always pay my respect before the day is again mine.

My words of Thank You seem so little, but i thank you from the bottom of my heart

Gill and family

Today 11am Charente,France

EACH TO THEIR OWN...BUT HOW LONG DID THIS COWARD SPEND IN THOSE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS DISTRIBUTING "WHATEVER" TO THE SHEEP.

REMEMBER HIM ALL YOU LIKE, BUT I WILL BE REMEMBERING ALL "THOSE THAT GAVE THEIR TOMORROW FOR OUR TODAY."

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW, WHAT HAPPEND WHEN HE CAME DOWN OUT THE HILLS, HOW LONG DID HE RIGHTFULLY SPEND BEHIND BARS, OR DID HE SNEAK OFF IN A BOAT TO DISTANT SHORES.

YES, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.....

My dad was captured within the first three months of WW2, spent the next 5 years in Germany & Poland trying to stay alive.
Today at 93 his physical body is great, although his mind is failing. The last few weeks he seems to be reliving his days when he was in Poland on a farm shoeing horses. I am just grateful those seemed to be happy memories for him, it could be so much worst.


Linda

[QUOTE=airbornesapper;5541049]EACH TO THEIR OWN...BUT HOW LONG DID THIS COWARD SPEND IN THOSE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS DISTRIBUTING "WHATEVER" TO THE SHEEP.

I think the words you have chosen are unfair......

After all he was doing what he thought was right, why does that make him a coward.

Linda