Lest we forget.

[edd]

I stopped work today at 11 am and remembered my great great grandad who died in the first world war . He fought with the glosters regiment and was a volunteer not conscripted . What a brave man , he left 6 sons and was young himself. He died in the trenches on active duty .
Both he and my late grandad who survived ww2 had a sense of duty and to do the right thing helping thy neighbour which is something i try to do in there memory. Rest in peace all those in wars including current conflicts.
Edd

[Andrew S]

Nice to hear such sentiments.
We too had the 11am silence and long may it continue

[wilf]

+1 on those sentiments, enough of my own family gave their all, too.

[uzbek]

They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not wither them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We shall remember them

A poem that does it for me every time

My two grandfathers were seriously injured in WWI, and died as a result of those injuries later. I never met either of them.

Bruce

[Goldstar]

As well as the various members of family lost in the 2 WWs, I also lost 2 squadron mates in the Gulf in 2003 which really brings it home and makes the Cenotaph ceremony very moving for me. We shall remember them.

[DJT]

My maternal Grandmother lost her brother on the Somme, Sept 1918 and her first husband (a New Zealand soldier she had married in Portsmouth in April 1918) in Northern France on Nov 8th 1918.

My paternal grandfather served in S. Africa for 6 years after the Boer War then ended up being wounded in France in 1914.

I have letters sent by three uncles who served in WW2. These are from India, Sri Lanka and Tunisia. Luckily they all survived. My father was a police officer during WW2, so didn't go overseas, but he, along with many thousands of others, had to endure the bombing at home - neighbouring houses were badly damaged by aerial mines.

Both yesterday and today I was lucky to be playing in golf matches at 1100, and we stopped both days to observe the 2 minutes silence. I will always observe this ritual for as long as I physically can. It is all we can do to recognise the sacrifice and suffering of those who have fought for us down the generations.

[edd]

I hasten to add not a poem by myself .
Edd

To know your future, you must know your past,
each stepping stone that has been cast.
Remember the good, as well as the bad,
and feel the emotions of happy and sad.

[MandM]

Bunny, kindly took this picture for me earlier this year in france, and the other is my great grandfathers war record, to hospital twice then reported missing, then prisoner of war, how lucky was he?
011_(800x600).jpgP1050130.jpgP1050131.jpgso a sad and a happy ending.

[Kingswood90]

It is so heartening to see people remember, it's important.
My mother was friends at school with two brothers. Their father died when they were in their teens. Both boys joined the army during the Second World War. One brother was killed on D day + 2. His mother wrote to her other son who was serving in Italy to let him know. He wrote back saying that she still had him. Two weeks later he was killed.
My mother promised their Mum that she wouldn't forget them, and every year put a cross on the war memorial by their names. She did this until she died.
Since then I have carried on doing the same, so that they are not forgotten, and in some way live on.
I will continue to do so.