Poppies for 11th November..

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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:19 pm

New Year, 1916
Those that go down in silence ...

There is no silence in their going down,
Although their grave-turf is not wet with tears,
Although Grief passes them by, and Renown
Has garnered them no glory for the years.

The cloud of war moves on, and men forget
That empires fall. We go our heedless ways
Unknowing still, uncaring still, and yet
The very dust is clamorous with their praise.

Ada M Harrison

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:55 pm

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

Siegfried Sassoon (1918)

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:08 pm

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:24 pm

LOL just pm-ed him this

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:24 pm

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

William Owen

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

largest number of burials of any Commonwealth cemetery of either world war.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/cemeteries/tynecot.htm

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:41 am

I’m finally got my poppy.
Remember.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:46 am

A poppy icon?

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

The Green Fields of France

90 years after "the war to end all wars".
We remember.
Also all those who have fallen since then.

Master Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 146

Quote:

Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

We remember all those that died in that and all later conflicts, but we should always remember that war is no way to end war.

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:21 pm

After 90 years the bombs still fall,
The soldiers die and the cities burn,
T'was the war to bring an end to wars.
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

What drives men to want to kill each other? Just look at Africa, Chad and Rwanda, Iraq and Afghanistan. We remember those who's live are lost, but what is really gained? There are always those prepared to use force to impose their will on others, and those who will oppose them. Nothing has really changed has it?

We must remember the fallen, not because it prevents war or conflict, nor because they fought for right or wrong, but because they lived and in living were a part of us, and because of the sadness of the futility of it all, and because our dearest wish is that it should all stop. Remembering them brings hope that maybe, just maybe mankind will learn to live together as one, not as rivals.

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:10 pm

@DB, I've been to Tyne Cot, as well as the Somme and Verdun. The saddest thing there is the haphazard random graves around the German blockhouse that the memorial cross is built on. After its capture, it was used as a casualty clearing station, bodies were pulled out and buried outside to make way for fresh wounded. All the hundereds of others are in the usual immaculate Portland stone ranks of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme is very moving too, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it bears the names of 72,000 British & Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave for their families to visit, but were just swallowed up by the carnage.

If it were up to me, all schoolchildren, European and US, should be taken to such places, to get a perspective on the number of lives wasted by warfare.

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:24 pm

^^^ I agree 100%. I occasionally drive by a Veterans Cemetary and am taken aback every time by the acres and acres of white markers in orderly rows, just as they stood on parade.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

The Verdun, Douaumont ossuary was very moving

http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_verdun_ossuaire.htm

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:25 pm

See also http://www.verdun-douaumont.com/

I was somewhat shocked by the glass windows around the base of the Ossuary, letting us gaze at the remains of 130,000 people. Shocked

I went there with my mate Joe, who is a cynical hard bitten Salford lad, even he was in tears by we left.

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:07 pm

Visiting Arlington National Cemetery near Washington DC was an extremely sobering experience and one I will not forget. Seeing so many white tombstones proudly standing in the green grass brought me to tears. Reading the names on the tombstones made the sacrifices made by these fathers, sons, mothers and daughters very real and personal. In a way it felt like they did it for me.

I know my safety and freedom is made possible in part by everyone who has served in the military. I owe a big thank you and a debt of gratitude to all who have given or are giving themselves so others can live in safety and freedom. Also, thank you to their friends and families who support them.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

@roy
It was shocking, but boy it does make you think about war

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:39 pm

I have an uncle buried in the Arlington National Cemetery and he left his wife with 5 little children. Sad

I too am grateful to all of you. Wink

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:59 pm

Well. Instead of replying to lads, today, 11th November, I will share with you a story, hoping that you will appreciate it. It’s my way to remember. Not to “commemorate” (it’s too official a word, in my opinion), but simply remember.
My grandfather had a brother. When he was finally 18 years old, the call of duty reached him. War was already raging all over, and he knew (or did he just feel?) had little hope to survive. Son of peasants, tried to escape by hiding in the woods. The local police, noticing his lateness, went to his father, and scared him about the dangers of being declared deserter, the shame, and the firing squad at the end.
Really worried, the father made all effort to persuade him, finally, during a last, dramatic meeting in the woods, being successful. “I will go, replied at last the boy, but remember me, as this is the last time you are seeing me alive”.
He went to the front. The very first day, he was attending at a mass with the other comrades. Suddenly, a shrapnel exploded among them. When the dust and the smoke got out, and the survivors raised from the ground (this was reported by one of his comrades), he did not move. He was among the dead.
It was 25th of December, Christmas day.
This has been told and retold through generations in my family. I can feel a warm emotion even now, relating it to you. I have told this story to other persons (not relatives) just once, to my girlfriend.
I really would like we can today remember all, innocent victims of war, collateral damages of errors made somewhere else, eyes forever closed; remember all, beyond borders, nationalities, flags. Maybe we will build a better Europe, a better world?

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