Veteran's Day | Remembrance Day

[transquebecniece]

For those who served and those still serving, remember them well—this day and always.

 

 

[Elvis]

[Hello-bird]

Heading down to Victory Square today to stand with the Vets in the pouring rain. It's nothing compared to what they've seen, and where they've been. An honor to pay respects. Thinking of all the Men and Women still serving out there. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

xo.

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

[Skids Up]

Today as well as I stood in the rain with the rest, I wondered how many realized that "we are able to stand here today because of many that can't."

 

How many were wondering how much longer till they could hit "Timmies" or get home and out of the wet clothes and then turn up the heat.

 

Because of others that did, I have never had to serve. I have great respect for those that did, for those that do, and sadly, for those who will yet serve, to help keep me safe and free.

 

To all of you, Thank You. I am grateful...

[Hello-bird]

"Ypres: 1915"

by Alden Nowlan

 

 

The age of Trumpets is passed, the banners hang

Like dead crows, tattered and black,

Rotting into nothingness on cathedral walls.

In the crypt of St. Paul's I had all the wrong thoughts,

Wondered if there was anything left of Nelson

Or Wellington, and even wished

I could pry open their tombs and look,

Then was ashamed

Of such morbid childishness and almost afraid.

 

I know the picture is as much of a forgery

As the Protocols of Zion, yet it outdistances

More plausible fictions: newsreels, regimental histories,

biographies of Earl Haig.

It is always morning

And the sky somehow manages to be red through the picture

Is in black and white.

There is a long road over flat country,

Shell holes, the debris of houses,

A gun carriage overturned in a field,

The bodies of men and horses,

But only a few of them and those

Always neat and distant.

The Moors are running

Down the right side of the road.

The Moors are running

In their baggy pants and Santa Claus caps.

The Moors are running.

And their officers,

Frenchmen who remember

Alsace and Lorraine,

Are running backwards in front of them,

Waving their swords, trying to drive them back,

Weeping

At the dishonor of it all.

The Moors are running.

 

And on the left side of the same road,

The Canadians are marching

In the opposite direction

The Canadians are marching

In English uniforms behind

A piper playing "Scotland the Brave"

 

The Canadians are marching

In impeccable formation,

Every man in step.

The Canadians are marching.

 

And I know this belongs

With Lord Kitchener's moustache

And old movies in which the Kaiser and his general staff

Seem to run like the Keystone Kops.

 

The old man on television last night,

A farmer or fisherman by the sound of him,

Revisiting Vimy Ridge, and they asked him

What it was like, and he said,

There was water up to our middle, yes,

And there was rats, and yes

There was water up to our middles

And rats, all right enough,

And to tell the truth

After the first three or four days

I started to get a little disgusted.

 

Oh, I know they were mercenaries

In a war that hardly concerned us.

I know all that

Sometimes I'm not even sure that I have a country.

 

But I know that they stood there at Ypres

The first time the Germans used gas,

That they were almost the only troops

In that section of the front

Who did not break and run,

Who held the line.

 

Perhaps they were too scared to run.

Perhaps they didn't know any better.

That is possible, they were so innocent,

Those farmboys and mechanics, you have to only look

At old pictures and see how they smiled

perhaps they were too shy

To walk out on anybody, even Death.

Perhaps their only motivation

Was a stubborn disinclination.

 

Private MacNally thinking:

You squarehead sons of ******,

You want this God damned trench

You're going to have to take it away from Billy MacNally

Of the South end of St. John, New Brunswick

And that's ridiculous too, and nothing

On which too found a country

Still

It makes me feel good, knowing

That in some obscure way

They were connected with me

And me with them.

 

...

 

This poem always comes to my mind on this day.

 

 

[sharkbait]

We observed it here in Malaysia - just "down the road" at Labuan there is a CWGC with over 1700 graves from WW2.

"For all of Your Tomorrows"

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Bullet Remington]

Today as well as I stood in the rain with the rest, I wondered how many realized that "we are able to stand here today because of many that can't."

 

How many were wondering how much longer till they could hit "Timmies" or get home and out of the wet clothes and then turn up the heat.

 

Because of others that did, I have never had to serve. I have great respect for those that did, for those that do, and sadly, for those who will yet serve, to help keep me safe and free.

 

To all of you, Thank You. I am grateful...

 

SU:

 

That kinda threw me!! That's the second "TY "I've recieved ( I assume I'm covered by that?)

 

The first TY I recieved was from a veteran of W II! I didn't know what to say to him, in that my service areas could never be compared to his!

 

I did tell him I appreciated the thought, and I enjoyed the brew as well as his company!

 

I do believe that the Old Billy Ray tune summed it up quite nicely: All gave some, Some gave all"

 

Be safe folks!