Lest we Forget.

[Foopy]

This is a post to commemorate all the people who have ever given their life defending what they believe in. A moment of silence for the fallen please.

 

[TetRefine]

Thank you to all those who have served.

Edited November 11, 2013 by TetRefine

[wildone]

Sadly Foopy, I was in a store and after two announcements and the vast majority of people stopping and paying their respects for two minutes, one person didn't.

 

I'm very proud of my Grandfather and Great Uncle for their service and what they personally did to liberate Europe after the second world war. My dad served 6 peacekeeping missions to Cyprus and Egypt/Israel and two tours with NATO in Germany.

 

This is a day to reflect on the service of so many who came to the call of their countries. No matter what their ideology or beliefs.

 

Lest we Forget

[Zombie]

I believe this is the only WWI colour photograph of flowering poppies growing on the battlefield. It shows a French army patrol with a donkey in a communication trench near the frontline in 1915 or 1916 and was taken by a member of the Photography and Cinematography Organization of the French Army.

Red poppies have been associated with war since the Napoleonic Wars - it was noticed they were the first flowers to grow in the churned-up earth of soldiers' graves - but the modern tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance of servicemen killed in all conflicts was started at the end of WWI in 1918 by the American Moina Michael, probably inspired by In Flanders Fields written in 1915 by the Canadian soldier, John McRae, in memory of his friend who had just been killed

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.
 

[Sasha Distan]

i'm from an Army family. i asked the kids in my class to stand and i was proud that they did. while i feel something awful and terrible and wonderful when i visit the war graves, it's not how i choose to remember. i know no better way than to wear my grandfather's army smock with his regimental badge on the sleeve and remember.

[TetRefine]