Lest we forget, Sunday

[CHAIRBOY]

Some most respectful, moving and measured words by Huw Edwards on Saturday evening's broadcast and as always by David Dimbleby at The Cenotaph. The music was once again played with metronomic precision and a most fitting contribution at the RAH by the delightful Katharine Jenkins.

[soft ayperth]

I don't know where the miscommunication has arisen but everyone seems to be saying the same thing, that we owe to all those who have served the cause of freedom in two world wars and the growing number of conflicts since our deepest gratitude. My dad was a flight seargant in the RAF in WW2 and my grandad was a cook at a POW camp set up for German prisoners of war in WW1. Neither saw active combat, but they did their part. Thanks for the Flanders Field poem Smith 565. Written by Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian, who was a surgeon in WW1 in charge of military hospitals not far from the trenches. He died of pneumonia while on active duty. He's revered in Canada.

[sandie]

It is as though you do not speak the same language.

 

Muntjac's message is quite clear to me in that the respect afforded the fallen has become minimal across the nation and the ones most deeply involved appear to be those who have lost a loved one. Many traditional marks of respect have been abandoned such as stopping ones car engine or removing head dress for the two minutes silence. Nowhere does it say that others have no right to pay their respects.

 

My father survived his war service in the RAF and I followed him into the service, coming out 22 years later unscathed. I have attended many Remembrance Parades over the years and I do not get through a Remembrance Sunday without a tear in my eye at some stage. Do not lose sight of what it is all about; not petty arguments and back biting but remembrance of the fallen by we who were lucky enough to survive two world wars and sundry conflicts since.

 

Does your reply "It is as though you do not speak the same language" refer to my post, whilst muntjac's post might be quite clear to you I have to dissagree, just because you feel and I can understand that. If people take the time to show their respects in public one day a year this does not make them unworthy.

People as in grief do so in their own home and today is the only day they have the oppertunity to parcipitate. 364 days a year they deal with the past in their own homes.

It is like saying that because most people only go to church for Weddings and Funerals they are not Christans.

I will accept that amongst the people who attended the ceromany today were there only because they had to and if they all could have that sence of unity the world would be a better place.

Upon reflection maybe that was what muntjac was trying to say.

Lets leave the rest of the day to those who deserve it tomorrow if we need to we will exchange our views and insults.

Just remember one thing we use a Keyboard and hide behind a screen those before us faced a gun which had no edit or rewind.

 

Lets just remember and put aside our trivial differences

[neil memmott]

So many rows and quarrels come from "misunderstandings" and today of all days this thread seems to have done the same.

[Bushbaby]

11 Nov 2007

It was a beautiful service in Barkers Pool today. Very well attended, and lots more youngsters than previous years, which was a nice surprise.

As always, the older veterans were given a spontaneous round of applause, which is always gratifying, and the young cadets, some of whom looked no more than 10 or 11, were given a similar ovation.

The ceremonial side was executed with the expected precision, courtesy of the Royal Signals guys from The Manor, and the whole event passed off with grace and charm.

When we do things well in Sheffield, we're unbeatable.

[muntjac]

Does your reply "It is as though you do not speak the same language" refer to my post, whilst muntjac's post might be quite clear to you I have to dissagree, just because you feel and I can understand that. If people take the time to show their respects in public one day a year this does not make them unworthy.

People as in grief do so in their own home and today is the only day they have the oppertunity to parcipitate. 364 days a year they deal with the past in their own homes.

It is like saying that because most people only go to church for Weddings and Funerals they are not Christans.

I will accept that amongst the people who attended the ceromany today were there only because they had to and if they all could have that sence of unity the world would be a better place.

Upon reflection maybe that was what muntjac was trying to say.

Lets leave the rest of the day to those who deserve it tomorrow if we need to we will exchange our views and insults.

Just remember one thing we use a Keyboard and hide behind a screen those before us faced a gun which had no edit or rewind.

 

Lets just remember and put aside our trivial differences

 

I decided not to send a PM to Lazyherbert and sandie so that all Forumers can see this !

I am sorry if I have offended either of you or any one else.

You have totally misunderstood my post but maybe it was open to interpretation. I WAS NOT CALLING THE DAY AN INCONVENIENCE TO ME. VERY FAR FROM IT ! AND I IN TURN AM DEEPLY OFFENDED. I do not wish to expand any further and this is my last post on this subject.

[lazyherbert]

I decided not to send a PM to Lazyherbert and sandie so that all Forumers can see this !

I am sorry if I have offended either of you or any one else.

You have totally misunderstood my post but maybe it was open to interpretation. I WAS NOT CALLING THE DAY AN INCONVENIENCE TO ME. VERY FAR FROM IT ! AND I IN TURN AM DEEPLY OFFENDED. I do not wish to expand any further and this is my last post on this subject.

I also am sorry for the misunderstanding especially on a day like today.I would like to express my thanks to all who organised & took part in the rememberance day service in Sheffield.

[Puffin4]

May I add my apologies for having unwittingly compounded the confusion when I was merely trying to clarify it. Last word on this subject. Goodnight.

[sweetdexter]

Over here in 'The Great White North ' I watched the ceremony's at the Canadian War Memorial.

There were lots of snuffles and clearing of throats on my part, remembering a cousin who was in the Navy, died 1944 and an uncle in the K.O.Y.L.I .'s who my mother could not even remember died 11 Sept 1916

[redrobbo]

Another Remembrance Sunday has now just ended.

 

I wore no poppy on this day, not red or white. I did not gather at a cenotaph, nor did I watch a television to see the nation pay its respects to the war dead.

 

Instead, I visited my parents, for November the 11th is my mother's birthday - and her name is Poppy. Mum is 85 now and Dad is older still, and they are both in poor health. The flowers I gave her for her birthday were returned to me, and I took them to a quiet churchyard in Derbyshire, and laid them at the grave of her sole brother.

 

Harry was the uncle I never knew. He was a flight sargent, and died on a bombing raid in WW2. He lies buried in a Flanders Field. He was only 23.

 

November 11th is both a happy occasion - when we celebrate Poppy's birthday. It is also a sad time for our family, as we remember the ultimate sacrifice that Harry gave in the cause of freedom from Nazi tyranny.

 

“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.”