Remember... Options

[Wittmann]

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
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 Flanders 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 Flanders fields.

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

LEST WE FORGET

Today we remember, the truth of mans great folly...today we remember the end of the war to end all wars, and those who found out to their cost this was not to be true, we remember all who have died fighting in just and noble causes...no matter their nation

However let us not be carried away by romantic notions of duty, honour, courage, lets us not forget that war is horrible and while the politicians declare the war its the young whoa re sent to die...

Well how do you do, Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side?
A rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone that you were only 19
when you joined the glorious fallen in 1916.
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, William McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart are you always 19.
Or are you just a stranger without even a name
Forever enclosed behind some glass-pane
In an old photograph torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

Well, the sun it shines down on these green fields of France,
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance.
The trenches are vanished now under the plough
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard it is still No Man's Land
And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand.
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that was butchered and downed.

And I can't help but wonder now Willie McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause?
Did you really believe them that this war would end war?
The suffering, the sorrow, some the glory, the shame -
The killing and dying - it was all done in vain.
For Willie McBride, it's all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?

And the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month,Hear the last post wail and be still for one minute, reflect, and remember...


AUSTRALIA:

The Great War: 61,720 fallen
World War Two 39,366 fallen
Korea 339 Fallen
Malaya and the Confrontation 51 fallen
Vietnam 520 fallen

Total War dead, Sudan to the present day

102,820 souls, and entire generation wiped out on the shores of Gallipoli, the fields of Ppozieres and Paschendale

908,371 men of the British Empire died alone in the Great War

[BigglesTrevor]

a grave day for all nations, remembering fallen fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. its good that you point out the commenwealth troops whos lives were lost, not enough britians know of there sacrifice. not enough britians also know how we took advantage of commenwalth troops, be it the Anzacs who died in the thousands at Galipoli, or Indians who were put into the most dangerous part of the lines and then discredited.

[LooseKannon]

I observed the minute of silence yesterday with my dad who is a Vietnam veteran. This day is very important in Australia, as we all have a great respect for those who fought and those who fell.

[DaRat]

I observed the minute of silence yesterday with my dad who is a Vietnam veteran. This day is very important in Australia, as we all have a great respect for those who fought and those who fell.

Goddamit, that's what I forgot to do =(
I'll do it now, those guys really do deserve our respect and gratitude

[CJE]

Even though I am an extremely poor student who is an alcoholic, and thousands of pounds into overdraft, I still went up to the guys selling poppies in their caravans in the town centre, and bought a poppy. The guy himself was amazed and said "You have got to be the only student who has bought on of these" and I replied "Just because I'm a student, that doesn't make me forgetful". It's true though isn't it, why should our generation forget so readily, the sacrifice of others for us? Not enough young people pay their respects to elders and the dead in my opinion.

[BigglesTrevor]

becuase alot of the youth dont understand and neverwill. and becuase they have been forced to remember at a young age, at so automaticly think its 'uncool'. you cant blame the younger generation though, it seems so alien to them and they have not been directly affected by wars (ie. they cant see any continuity or change caused by it).

[JdB]

As Dutch youths like to say:

Why should we care about the past, we live now, not 65 years ago (we never experienced WW1, so our most profound war-experience is WW2).

"Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It"

[Blackscorpion]

Germans didn't got through (sorry, but as history shows...) you in WW1 too then? Thanks for fixing that for me...

[Linker Split]

Man, my granpha was a partisan in Greece and Spain... and he always said me:


"Luca, please don't prey for me. I was always involved into the battle against fascism. I saw death so many times that you could think :"goddamnit! lucky!". No need of a prayer from either a priest nor the Pope himself. God know what I did, only him can Judge me."


Rest in peace granpha, rest in peace all the partisans who fought for Our FREEDOM.