Remembrance Day "We Will Remember Them"

Come the day I will wear a poppy too, with the name of an Australian private (my great uncle) written on the back.

He kept a diary which I often read at this time of year...his regiment had seen Gallipoli, the Somme in 1916, Flanders later that year and then the freezing winter of 1916-17 back at the Somme front where he later died of wounds...BPI (Poor Bloody Infantry) is only the half of it :(
 
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be never so vile.
This day shall gentle his condition.
And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."
 
Tactics never used to be a strong point in warfare, it took a long time to get rid of the "lets stand opposite each other in a field and shoot each other approach", WWI was another example of this.

Broadie said:
Come the day I will wear a poppy too, with the name of an Australian private (my great uncle) written on the back.

He kept a diary which I often read at this time of year...his regiment had seen Gallipoli, the Somme in 1916, Flanders later that year and then the freezing winter of 1916-17 back at the Somme front where he later died of wounds...BPI (Poor Bloody Infantry) is only the half of it :(
Click to expand...

You need to get that typed up and released online/published!

My wife loves diaries from the war times, swear she had a previous life based in war times.:)
 
Last edited:
My problem with this ceremony is the inclusion of modern wars, these wars were acts of aggression on our part and should have nothing to do with the heroic sacrifice of those in the World Wars.
 
Ring Peace said:
My problem with this ceremony is the inclusion of modern wars, these wars were acts of aggression on our part and should have nothing to do with the heroic sacrifice of those in the World Wars.
Click to expand...
I would like to think that you would honour the sacrifice made by all of our armed forces and attached civilians in all conflicts that gave their lives and health rather than discriminate on a political basis.
 
Ring Peace said:
My problem with this ceremony is the inclusion of modern wars, these wars were acts of aggression on our part and should have nothing to do with the heroic sacrifice of those in the World Wars.
Click to expand...

There shouldn't be ethical discussion at such events, or you may as well start saying 'We will remember them, apart from the Bomber Harris crews of course, that was all a bit dodgy'.

Controversial bit:

To be honest, I don't even like the way that for the 2nd WW we only allowed the Germans one war memorial for their dead within in the entire country, which due to practicalities couldn't fit all the soldiers names on it. Because we were 'the winners' so no you can't have memorials to your dead HA HA! Just seems wrong somehow ..
 
Last edited:
britboy4321 said:
Controversial bit:

To be honest, I don't even like the way that we only allowed the Germans one war memorial for their dead within in the entire country, because we were 'the winners' so HA! Seems wrong ..
Click to expand...

Part of the reason we fought was for understanding and compassion. Not allowing to remember their dead, many of whom had no choice but to fight irrespective of their feelings towards the leadership, doesn't seem very consistent with that.
 
Ring Peace said:
My problem with this ceremony is the inclusion of modern wars, these wars were acts of aggression on our part and should have nothing to do with the heroic sacrifice of those in the World Wars.
Click to expand...
Disagree, it's to honour all servicemen and women whatever the conflict.
The British Legion, yes those old servicemen still wearing their berets and medals, quite rightly honour the service personel coming home in coffins from Afghanistan etc.
 
izzy eckerslike said:
You have to remember that they did not 'give' their lives it's rather they had their lives taken from them. When you remember the 1st world war when wave after wave of men were ordered to climb out of the trenches and run at the German machine guns or face being shot by their own officers it makes you realise just how bad things were.

My Grandfather was a WW1 medic and actually saw Germans breaking down and crying at the carnage they had inflicted on the enemy. That's not something you would expect to hear but it was true
Click to expand...

You cannot blame the officers...a staggering amount of junior officers were getting killed, a survival chance of 50-75%, it wasn't exactly an easy life for them either.
Out of 5 million men (Over half volunteers) not a single account of mass mutiny (Unlike the French and Germans) although there was one mutiny by the aussies which got put down quickly.

The soldiers on the front lines felt more connected than to the people behind the front lines ordering them about and sending them over the top. The guy over there in the trench is in the same dank horrible mess as you, it's kind of a 'I know how you feel mate...'

It was quite common for the Germans and British to fire and artillery the same place every day so both sides know where it's safe to stay. It's very interesting and shows what happens when the army doesn't psychologicaly prepare people for war.
 
Davies_M said:
It's very interesting and shows what happens when the army doesn't psychologicaly prepare people for war.
Click to expand...

Very interesting post. Indeed I remember reading somewhere that somehow they founds 85% of the riflemen would always shoot high rather than at the target :/

Basically by 'prepare them for war' you mean 'nutter them up' I presume??

I had a friend who went off to Iraq but first he went for his 'special training'. This literally seemed to be 'nuttering him up to psychotic level' as I saw him 2 days before deployment and he was so out of character ready and eager to rip someone's head off :/ Like - uber pumped up .. :/
 
Maccy said:
The day is tomorrow, I will be honouring this as I do every year.

Lest we forget.
Click to expand...

Tried to explain it to my 4 year old the other day. Quite complicated. Not sure if they'll try a two minutes silence in a reception class... She's got a poppy though.
 
vonhelmet said:
Tried to explain it to my 4 year old the other day. Quite complicated. Not sure if they'll try a two minutes silence in a reception class... She's got a poppy though.
Click to expand...

I did the same. Basically in simple terms by telling her it is to remember all the soldiers that have died fighting wars. As she gets older I will obviously explain more. However at age four, mostly she was interested in having a "red flower".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom