Topic: Rememberance Day

[Demon67]

 Just about Nov !! again and forecast here is overcast but no rain or snow just cold, 1 C, so maybe a few more vets will survive for another year. Here's hoping.
Bill the demon.

[azuredesign]

I forgot about rememberance day, but isn't November 11th Armistice day, to commemorate the end of WW1?
All kidding aside, I agree whole heartedly with your sentiment.
All best and thanks to everyone who's made a military committment.

[bill440cars]

       Even though I never saw any combat time, I spent a total of 29 yrs total military time: 6yr U.S. Air Force obligation 4yrs active/ 2yrs inactive) and 23yrs U.S.Army Reserves. Have to say that I greatly appreciate ALL who served, in what ever way because it takes the Whole team, to make it work.
 
                                   Take care, Bill


         Can't believe I didn't add this the 1st time (Demon67 made me think of it)

         My Father-in-law was a WWII Navy Vet, Did his hitch during WWII, and he passed on 4yrs ago.   My Dad is an Army WWII Vet also, with 41yrs total service and retired as a CW4 Chief Warrant Officer.   U   I tried to duplicate his service as close as possible (his: 41yrs as a CW4 vs my: 29yrs as an E7 SFC) I tried to make Warrant but could not get a vacancy in Maintenance.

[tramp]

yea today is veterans day
good memories and bad
feel sorry for the guy's in ww1
i think 1 or 2 are still alive in the us

[Demon67]

Yeah we've got one still alive, I'm dammed sure I couldn't have handled the trenches, it must have been like living Dante's Inferno, as far as the rest I was to young to have made WW2 or Korea and to wise to do Viet Nam I checked with the recruiting Sergeant in Covina Calif and found out that because I'd done 6 years NATO service I didn't have to worry about going but they'd love to have me and I would have gotten sergeants rank plus trade qualifications I wisely said thanks anyhow, there was a whole bunch of young people that went north across the border and I felt if they were against the war for ethical and moral reasons god bless them, but if they were too chicken #$%* to go I had no sympathy for them (same as now, if you join up to get an education and the powers that be throw a war, tough, away you go)
Bill the demon.

[upperlake04]

..the trenches, it must have been like living Dante's Inferno..

[Caaveman82]

My great grandfather Jesse Haskins served three years in the U.S. Army during World War One. My Grandfather served four years in the U.S. Navy during World War Two. My father served four years in the U.S. Navy during Viet Nam. I served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and I did two tours in Iraq. Glad to be done with it.

     When my grandfather was still alive, my father and I would go visit him. Today was a hard day for him. Every year. Same with the old man. Now that I have served I know why. Today is the day you remember your brothers. Can't even call them friends. When you save some one's life or vice versa and the element of death is right there every time you drive out of the gate to bring some other poor bastard food and water, you no longer have friends. They are brothers. You will and do look out for every single one of them. Even the guys you don't like.

     I don't pretend to compare to the experiences of Viet Nam or any war before this one. I just know what I went through was all too real and having my brothers killed and making it out myself, impacts you forever. The only thing to do is uphold the reputation of the armed forces so as to honor the fallen.

     So I say happy Veterans day to all of you.

[bill440cars]

My great grandfather Jesse Haskins served three years in the U.S. Army during World War One. My Grandfather served four years in the U.S. Navy during World War Two. My father served four years in the U.S. Navy during Viet Nam. I served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and I did two tours in Iraq. Glad to be done with it.

     When my grandfather was still alive, my father and I would go visit him. Today was a hard day for him. Every year. Same with the old man. Now that I have served I know why. Today is the day you remember your brothers. Can't even call them friends. When you save some one's life or vice versa and the element of death is right there every time you drive out of the gate to bring some other poor bastard food and water, you no longer have friends. They are brothers. You will and do look out for every single one of them. Even the guys you don't like.

     I don't pretend to compare to the experiences of Viet Nam or any war before this one. I just know what I went through was all too real and having my brothers killed and making it out myself, impacts you forever. The only thing to do is uphold the reputation of the armed forces so as to honor the fallen.

     So I say happy Veterans day to all of you.

                I Applaud YOU Caaveman82, Your Dad, Your Grandfather AND Your Great Grandfather! (if we had a Saluting Smiley, I'd post it here!

                              Take care, Bill

[Ecosse]

Just found this post. Proper words fail me to express the admiration and respect for all of you who have served, really.

I feel for many years those vets of WW I and Korea have been overlooked. And I was shocked when I learned there was no national memorial for WW II. Tom Hanks helped bring that to light. Not that a memorial is the end all be all; but it's a start.

Our vets are the seriously some of the best representatives of not just the might of the nation but of the humanity.

That last part is often over looked in the 'if it bleeds it leads' mentality of the media.

I am humbled by and indebted to you all.

[Demon67]

I went to the ceremony in Wiarton Ontario, a small town that lies at the bottom of the Bruce Pennisula, it has less people in it than the place we moved from, but more people attended here than there and the weather was predictable, wet snow, slight wind, ceremony took about an hour, towards the end of the ceremony one of the old vet standing in formation of the local Legion partially collapsed and had to be helped to a chair and covered up, but you know through out it he was smiling, he wouldn't let it stop him from being there, I who looks to be much younger found that after only an hour in the crappy weather I couldn't move when the parade moved off, had a #$%* of a time coming to attention when the flags went past, so I guess age comes to all of us. You know I think sometimes that they should shorten the ceremonies but I suppose that all of the people feel the need to participate and the Vets would feel it was a slur on their abilities. I know that it is a sad time of year for me and others.
Bill the demon.

[eldar]

Things like this are part of what we must remember.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html

[upperlake04]

 At the city ceremony here in Saskatoon, the Second World War veterans were provided with chairs. Not one used them and stood the entire time. Towards the end, three cadets collapsed and needed help to exit the floor. Those vets were a proud bunch.

[bill440cars]

      eldar, Thank you for posting that link about that fellow in California. I knew of quite a bit about the horrid things that went on during that time and will Always be truly amazed at how Truly Horrible those times were!

      You know, when I hear folks bad mouth (and I mean really bad mouth our country, I am reminded of things like this that have happened in other countries and I'm glad to be here. Sure, there are things that could be better, but there are folks who have the opportunity to change things. Sometimes, I think we need a reminder about just how bad it could be.  

[eldar]

WW2 was a time in history where both sides did unspeakable things. Things ordered by politicians. Germany had their camps, japanese had their torture and "medical" research. The US did fire bombing.

We need the stories from these old servicemen to remind us how painful the cost of war really is and to remind us to not go down that path if we can help it in any way. The servicemen not only deserve our gratitude but also as much respect as we can muster for the sites they have seen. We also need to take care of them. We do not need a VA that refuses to give them the services they require only to have one die who, as they found out later, has 3 purple hearts. That actually happened, I wish I could find the story on it.

[Demon67]

Do you guys have the equivalent of the Memory Project in the states?www.thememoryproject.com
Bill the demon

[Operator]

In Canada we only have one remaining WW1 Vet, Mr. Babcock and this year as a tribute, a Veterans Association went to his home where they lit a torch which he passed on to a Medal of Bravery winner from WW2, and on to a Peacekeeper from the 70's era, passed on to a Desert Storm Gulf War vet (yes there are quite a few Canadians who went to Iraq the first time around) then passed to a Somalia Vet, on to a Former Yugoslavia Vet, on to a Kosovo Vet, and finally to one of the boys who just got back from Afghanistan. For Canadians there is a big association with the Torch being symbolic.  LCol John McCrae was a Surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade and wrote the Poem "In Flander's Fields"  As a member of the Canadian Army I can tell you that I have never been to a Remembrance Day Ceremony where this poem has not been read.

From memory it goes.....

In Flander's Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing flies
Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flander's Fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw,
The torch, be yours, to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep though poppies grow
In Flander's Fields

LCol John McCrae
Medical Officer
May 3rd 1915



Pro Patria
(For Country)