Amen!!
My grandfather -- wounded in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. Took shrapnel to the head, miraculously not only survived, but without brain damage. Wore a metal plate in his head for the rest of his days (heaven help if he ever needed an MRI).
We visit his grave regularly, but make a special trip every Veteran's Day. To all those who currently serve, know that it is apprecieated.
I will give my thanks as well.
Members of my family going back as far as the Revolutionary War here in America, as well as several friends and fellow gamers, have had the distinction of serving. I am humbled by (and grateful for) their courage, and the sacrifices they made that allow me to be who I am and do what I do today.
My warmest thanks and deepest respect to all who serve or who have served. You are never forgotten.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Members of my family going back as far as the Revolutionary War here in America, as well as several friends and fellow gamers, have had the distinction of serving. I am humbled by (and grateful for) their courage, and the sacrifices they made that allow me to be who I am and do what I do today.
My warmest thanks and deepest respect to all who serve or who have served. You are never forgotten.
Ditto for me, historically and the sentiment. Even after WII my father chose a career of civil service in lieu of the private market. Not as much money but he felt community was more important that any individual.
God Bless you Dad, and honored vets!
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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My son has many questions about Remembrance Day. What is the significance of the 'Last Post'? Did they play it on November 11th in 1914? Why 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month?
Most of this information I can search on wikipedia, and will tonight but any interesting information or feelings you can share about Remembrance Day or Veteran's Day, I will read with him tonight.
Thanks.
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The first Remembrance Day in Canada was held in 1919.
My Oma was friends with a man, now nearing 100 years old, who recalled the parades celebrating the Armistace (complete with effigies of the Kaiser) and then went on to serve with Allied Intelligence in the Second World War. I would like to share one of his stories of WWII, which was published in a newspaper some time ago (I'm recalling from memory, so forgive any sketchy details):
As Allied forces secured France in December 1944, one of his tasks was moving about and making sure there was no German sabotage efforts. Upon investigation of a farmhouse, he and his crew found an elderly French couple. But the crew also found evidence of them harbouring someone. Breaking down, the couple admitted they had taken in a young German deserter; the couple had lost their own son and felt pity for the man (I think they called him Willy). The crew went out to look for Willy, but he was gone. There was a massive scramble, as it appeared Willy had fled when the crew arrived at the house. The family feared he would be captured, and the intelligence men wanted to make sure the family was safe and that he wasn't causing any trouble.
A few hours later, Willy returned bearing a pine tree. He had gone to get a Tannenbaum, he explained, a Christmas gift for the family that protected him.
Most of this information I can search on wikipedia, and will tonight but any interesting information or feelings you can share about Remembrance Day or Veteran's Day, I will read with him tonight.
My grandfather, who appears to have been in several places around Karelia in WWII (or so the records tell) almost as a rule didn't talk about war. The only exception I have heard from him was a story about a mission to score some booze...
This combined to other stories (including several from home front) have given me somewhat offbeat view to veterans: I don't much care for parades and stiffy stufflike that and I am a devout pacifist, but I do appreciate human beings doing human things, even in weird situations like war. Including sex and alcohol :)
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My son has many questions about Remembrance Day. What is the significance of the 'Last Post'? Did they play it on November 11th in 1914? Why 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month?
Most of this information I can search on wikipedia, and will tonight but any interesting information or feelings you can share about Remembrance Day or Veteran's Day, I will read with him tonight.
Thanks.
The Last Post is a bugle call signaling the end of the day, that the last inspection has been carried out.
By extension, playing it at a military funeral signifies that the person has served his last watch, and no longer needs to answer to any inspections.It was used before World War I, and was used as the title of a poem written during the war.
The significance of the the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was a combination of finding an appropriate length of time to tell all units in the field to stop, and the last remnants of the romanticism the war had otherwise extinguished. The saddest part of it is that some commanders used it as an excuse to continue hostilities until the very last second out of a quest to be remembered as inflicting the last casualty of the war. The number of their own men they got killed was apparently irrelevant.
Thank you to all those that served and are still serving their respective countries. Hugs and cookies for you!
Thanks to all who serve- past, present and future.
Many thanks to all who have served and are serving in the armed forces past and present. May we always remember your sacrifices in the name of defending the values we cherish-freedom, justice, community and peace.
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.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae
In Holland we have Veteran's day on another date.
But nevertheless my thanks go out to all who defend the peace, while reading this thread.
*salute*
Thank you for sharing this information and stories with me.
I've Learned alot from you!
(Tarren Dei's Son, Age 8)
Less We Forget.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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I have never served in the military. One of my grandfathers was in the navy during WWII but never saw combat.
Around 2000, while I was in South Korea, I decided to visit the UN cemetary in Busan (or Pusan) where many soldiers (including Canadian soldiers) are buried. I was having trouble finding the place so I stopped into an art gallery to ask for directions.
A young man in an army uniform heard me asking the gallery owner and popped out to the street and then came back in and grabbed me. "I'll drive you there," he said. "But you'll have to sit in the front."
I went out to the street and saw a large limousine with tinted windows. The young man was the driver. After a quiet and comfortable ride through Busan, the limousine pulled into the cemetary and stopped. The driver gestured to the passenger in the back who I could not see through the glass and said, "The general says thank you and thanks to your grandfather."
Apparently they made some assumptions about why I wanted to visit the cemetary. Still, thanks were given. I accepted them on behalf of others.
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My grandfather served in Korea as a combat engineer, building bridges and such in the middle of a war zone. I've never asked him about his experience, and I've never heard much. My other grandfather was a medic in Vietnam, and I haven't heard anything about that either. That was not a good time for that side of my family, and details are slim. My father missed the draft by a couple of months.
One of my great uncles served in WWII; he never talked about his experience. If anyone asked, he changed the conversation. Nobody knows what his experience was, and nobody will. Perhaps it's for the best.
If you go back far enough, my family fought in the Civil War. I'm a little ashamed to say they fought for the Confederacy, but somehow, they all survived. All four brothers enlisted, all in different regiments. All of them deserted, and all of them survived. We imagine they deserted went home to tend the crops; they were desperately poor farmers with no real stake in the war, other than "lofty" ideas. It's an interesting chapter in my family's history. Not a happy one, but interesting.
As for the significance of this day, WWI is, in my opinion and that of many others, the single most important event of the 20th Century. There is a direct correlation between WWI and the various causes of WWII. Some even say they should be considered one war, with a short peace. WWI laid the groundwork for all of the ethnic fighting throughout the world today and for the Western World's conflict with the Middle East and the Islamic world. From Rwanda to Kosovo, WWI can provide the answers, as the great colonial powers bludgeoned each other to death and their broken colonies crawled from the wreckage.
Here's to the military, and the hope that one day, we won't need to have one.