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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat KEVIN2008's Avatar
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    Rememberance Sunday

    GreatWar 1914-1918
    In Flanders Fields


    by John McCrae, May 1915

    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.
    Consultation en ligne www.viagrasansordonnancefr.com pharmacie francaise

  2. #2
    On a walkabout Loy Toy's Avatar
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    I just watched the last post being performed at the Gabba during the Australian v South African test match.


  3. #3
    I am not a cat
    nidhogg's Avatar
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  4. #4
    Thailand Expat KEVIN2008's Avatar
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    Perhaps: ... To Roland Aubrey Leighton (27 March 1895 – 23 December 1915 )

    Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
    And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
    And feel once more I do not live in vain,
    Although bereft of You.

    Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet
    Will make the sunny hours of spring seem gay,
    And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet,
    Though You have passed away.

    Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright,
    And crimson roses once again be fair,
    And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
    Although You are not there.

    Perhaps some day I shall not shrink in pain
    To see the passing of the dying year,
    And listen to Christmas songs again,
    Although You cannot hear.'

    But though kind Time may many joys renew,
    There is one greatest joy I shall not know
    Again, because my heart for loss of You
    Was broken, long ago.

    Vera Brittain

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat
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    Funeral Appeal After WWII Veteran Dies Alone

    Several hundred people are set to turn up at the funeral of a 99-year-old RAF veteran who died without family or friends.

    7:16pm UK, Saturday 09 November 2013


    Hundreds of people are expected to attend a funeral of a war veteran they never knew after it emerged he died with no close friends or relatives.

    Harold Jellicoe Percival served as RAF ground crew and helped with the famous Dambusters raids during the Second World War.

    He died last month aged 99 in a nursing home.

    Mr Percival's funeral will be held at 11am on Armistice Day at a crematorium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

    The veteran never married, had no children and has no close family members able to go to the service.

    A request for servicemen first went out in a local newspaper
    But after publicity in local newspapers and social media, funeral directors say they are now hoping for a good turnout.

    The RAF Association tweeted that its "Northern area will be in attendance" so Mr Percival "won't be alone".

    Afghanistan veteran Rick Clement, who lost both legs in 2010, has been using Twitter and Facebook to urge people to turn up to pay their respects.

    "Need a big favour from any military or ex serving members. This fallen soldier at 99 years old is having a funeral on Monday," he said.

    "It says he has no family to attend in Lytham St Anne's. If your in the area can you give him the send off he deserves."

    He later thanked all those who had supported the appeal, saying: "Harold is going to get an amazing send off."

    Comedian Jason Manford has also got behind the campaign.

    Mr Percival lived in Penge, south London, before joining the RAF.

    He was based in northwest England and became part of the ground crew which helped the Dambusters, the squadron which was initially formed to destroy dams in the Ruhr valley in Nazi Germany.

    Mr Percival helped support the Dambusters' daring raid during World War Two
    After working in Australia, he later retired to England and lived at a care home in Lytham St Annes.

    Matron Janet Wareing said: "Harold was a lovely character, very strong-willed and independent.

    "He was quite a private man, and he loved reading his Daily Telegraph every morning.

    "We have already been contacted by military veterans who are intending to come, even though they have never met him.

    "We've been told one group is looking to bring around 200 people to the service, which would be fantastic."

    Mr Percival does have a nephew, David Worsell, but he is not able to attend so his son - Mr Percival's great nephew - will represent the family.

    He was a distant relative of former British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, the only PM to have ever been assassinated.

    Funeral Appeal After WWII Veteran Dies Alone

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat
    Mid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by news.sky.com

    WWII Veteran Dies Alone

    Rest in Peace Harold Jellicoe Percival

    What will I tell my daughter?
    What will you tell your son?
    Where were all the doves?
    That we were nothing but a shadow,
    A faceless generation?

    What are we fightin' for?

    source



    youtube.com

  7. #7
    I am in Jail

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    Rest in peace old mate and thankyou for your service.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    A Soldier

    He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled,
    That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust,
    But still lies pointed as it plowed the dust.
    If we who sight along it round the world,
    See nothing worthy to have been its mark,
    It is because like men we look too near,
    Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere,
    Our missiles always make too short an arc.
    They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
    The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;
    They make us cringe for metal-point on stone.
    But this we know, the obstacle that checked
    And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
    Further than target ever showed or shone.

    Robert Frost

  9. #9
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    Question Royal British Legion Service of Remembrance

    Just finished watching the Service of Remembrance from the Albert Hall on UK T/V as usual very moving and well organised. It makes one realise just how lucky we are to have had service men from many many nations who fought and in some cases died for our freedom today. By stopping the power hungry maniacs in Germany and Japan from literally taking over the world in the 1940's.

    Having been a child in UK during the German blitz on England not knowing if tomorrow will be them same I wonder just how today's materialistic society would cope with literally loosing everything they own (as our family did twice) in one single explosion with no insurance or credit or compensation to replace it. It also pays to remember that German civilians were put in the same situation by allied air forces between 1940 and 1945.

    If it had not been for Nations standing up to the Germans and Japanese we would not be taking part in any forum in Thailand today, the Thais would be used as slaves by the Japanese and not trading partners.

    Makes the Rice Pledge scheme and the Amnesty Bill look very small change!

  10. #10
    Philippine Expat
    Davis Knowlton's Avatar
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    That's a very interesting question. Most of the world in the 1940's was rural, or not far removed from it. People could build a fire, butcher an animal, cook over a fire, and deal with many of their medical issues.

    People also didn't have a lot of 'stuff'. They could, and did, carry on with a few cook pots, a blanket and maybe an extra set of clothes.

    Today's entitled, self-absorbed residents of 'first world' countries would probably die out fairly quickly.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton View Post
    That's a very interesting question. Most of the world in the 1940's was rural, or not far removed from it. People could build a fire, butcher an animal, cook over a fire, and deal with many of their medical issues.

    People also didn't have a lot of 'stuff'. They could, and did, carry on with a few cook pots, a blanket and maybe an extra set of clothes.

    Today's entitled, self-absorbed residents of 'first world' countries would probably die out fairly quickly.
    UK and Europe during the early 1940's had a lot more heavy and dirty industrialisation than today (coal mines/steel works/foundries/shipyards/factories etc) but workers in those days usually had only the bare essentials in their homes, which most only rented as they could not afford the £360:00 to buy a house. UK average wage was in the region of £4:00 per week for 12 hours a day six days a week. Mortgages were not even heard of for blue collar workers or even skilled manual workers.

    Heating was by coal fire in one room of the house it was not uncommon in mid winter to have to scrape the ice off the inside of a bedroom window in the morning. Only the 'posh' had any form of water heating system for toiletries other than a galvanised bucket on the gas stove or fire.

    As for credit (hire purchase as it was known) only white collar workers were even considered for these loans usually after grovelling to their respective bank manager.

    Also a family had to provide for their medical medical bills,of all types, as there was no NHS in those days. Teeth were often pulled by either the local barber or ones self as dentists were way out of most of the population available finances.

    Not too many of us around now that remember what people call "the good old days".

  12. #12
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    Romancing war and militarism.
    How lovely.

    Civilised.


  13. #13
    Philippine Expat
    Davis Knowlton's Avatar
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    I was born in '49, but my grandparent's house still had an ice house, where blocks of ice cut from the lake in the winter and covered in sawdust from the mill were used to keep produce cool in the summer months.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat
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    In The Pink

    So Davies wrote: ‘This leaves me in the pink’.
    Then scrawled his name: ‘Your loving sweetheart, Willie’.
    With crosses for a hug. He’d had a drink
    Of rum and tea; and, though the barn was chilly,
    For once his blood ran warm; he had pay to spend.
    Winter was passing; soon the year would mend.

    But he couldn’t sleep that night; stiff in the dark
    He groaned and thought of Sundays at the farm,
    And how he’d go as cheerful as a lark
    In his best suit, to wander arm in arm
    With brown-eyed Gwen, and whisper in her ear
    The simple, silly things she liked to hear.

    And then he thought: to-morrow night we trudge
    Up to the trenches, and my boots are rotten.
    Five miles of stodgy clay and freezing sludge,
    And everything but wretchedness forgotten.
    To-night he’s in the pink; but soon he’ll die.
    And still the war goes on—he don’t know why.

    Siegfried Sassoon Feb 1916

    I have recently visited some memorials in France to pay respects to family members who never made it through Somme/Arras/Cambrais. Some were jolly unlucky chappies, having survived the Somme first time round only to fail the second time in 1918.

    The cemeteries are still beautifully preserved and hats off to the French for keeping them that way.

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Stocks View Post
    Just finished watching the Service of Remembrance from the Albert Hall on UK T/V as usual very moving and well organised. It makes one realise just how lucky we are to have had service men from many many nations who fought and in some cases died for our freedom today. By stopping the power hungry maniacs in Germany and Japan from literally taking over the world in the 1940's.
    You know, I think this freedom thing is a post-war addition to British propaganda. I have here speeches of 3 celebrity time witnesses, and they use 'freedom' only once. Between them. 'British Empire' in contrast countless times. Seems they were concerned about that. Now that didn't work, and it really wasn't Hitlers fault that it crumbled. Rather America's. So how comes you adopt their propaganda, sort of adding insult to injury? To produce the illusion you got something out of this war?




  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Stocks View Post



    Heating was by coal fire in one room of the house it was not uncommon in mid winter to have to scrape the ice off the inside of a bedroom window in the morning. Only the 'posh' had any form of water heating system for toiletries other than a galvanised bucket on the gas stove or fire.



    Not too many of us around now that remember what people call "the good old days".
    That kind of standard wasnt just in the 40`s. Christ, I was born in the early 70`s and can still remember not having such a thing as central heating, waking up on a winters morning with ice on the inside of the windows and seeing your breath in the morning air. I also remember having to warm your clothes in front of the gas fire and coming home after playing outside with jeans frozen solid and chilblains on your legs. We werent poor by any stretch of the imagination, that was how life was.

    We did have a bath with running water hot though.
    I aint superstitious, but I know when somethings wrong
    I`ve been dragging my heels with a bitch called hope
    Let the undercurrent drag me along.

  17. #17
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    Quite why we are all expected to commemorate past wars is probably worth some examination.

    The first world war is now 100 years ago, as near as dammit. It was a catastrophe for all concerned and marked the last fling of competing empires clinging to the notion that there had be a balance of powers. Stupid, utterly pointless and without any merit whatsoever. That millions went willingly through that mincing machine is a matter of profound regret but is possibly only worth remembering as an example of just how stupid humanity can be when in the thrall of idiot generals and pompous politicians. Frankly, not worth remembering any more than the war in the Crimea.

    The second? Well, it was simply a fight for survival against perverted doctrines propounded by demagogues pandering to sheep. The allies won and the rest is history. So why do folk, particularly the Brits and Antipodeans, keep harking back and praising the combatants et al in such a slavish manner? Lest we forget, is it? Well, there is an entire generation growing up who haven't a clue about it and couldn't give a flying toss, not least because it has no relevance. Oh, we should honour those who sacrificed themselves so that we can loll about in democratic freedom, you say. What utter bollocks. They fought for themselves and their own interests, the same as we all do now. Wittering on about some higher purpose tending the candle of freedom etc is just tawdry editorialisation serving the purposes of the redundant, the sentimental and establishments capitalising on nostalgia.


    Nothing matters very much and very little matters at all.

    More Vietnamese were slaughtered by our American partners than all the British soldiery and civilian deaths since 1900.

    Possibly worth more pause for thought, n'est - ce pas?

  18. #18
    I am in Jail

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    Lest we forget, is it? Well, there is an entire generation growing up who haven't a clue about it and couldn't give a flying toss, not least because it has no relevance.


    It has relevance gents, as this post of yours would be written in German without it

  19. #19
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    I watced the Remembrance on tv. from the Cenotaph at 11 am. and it was a superb tribute to all the present and past.
    Places like Fiji who supply so many of our SAS and the Gurkhas, none braver.
    I wasn't very happy to see the Pakistani ambassador laying a wreath though.

  20. #20
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    ^^
    Europe might have been a better place if we did?

    ^
    Not sure they supply that many SAS soldiers and even less Gurkha's. I certainly never met any and I was even less happy to see politicians in general laying a wreath, despicable creatures they are.

  21. #21
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    If We where all speaking German now,without ever knowing another language,it would not be an issue,would it.

  22. #22
    I am in Jail

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    ^The extermination of all non-aryan types might be though

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by astasinim
    Not sure they supply that many SAS soldiers and even less Gurkha's. I certainly never met any and I was even less happy to see politicians in general laying a wreath, despicable creatures they
    I think you may misunderstand me, FIJI has supplied many SAS soldiers.
    I served in the RAF in Oman and have personal experience of them - Mirbat.
    I never said the Gurkhas were in the SAS.
    Fijians have served the UK so well in the Special Forces, from personal experience.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat
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    ^
    Not saying they are none. Just saying I never have come across many, if any.
    We had a Gurkha squadron, and they were great, but didnt usually move from their comfort zone.

  25. #25
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    Fiji is just another failing state teetering on the edge of corruption, racial discrimination and incompetence. That some of their men elect to fight as journeymen in the British forces and occasionally distinguish themselves is neither here nor there in the scheme of things. Just because one of them had the capacity for endurance and loaded a 22 pounder until death tells us nothing other than that he was prepared to fight beyond what many were capable of.

    So what?

    Do you still feel the same way about Macedonians simply because of Alexander the Great?

    The whole remembrance orgy is a working class thing and most folk with any nous realise it for the irrelevance it truly is.

    To the victor belongs the spoils and 'twas ever thus.

    Still, I can well understand why the lower end of British society, and others, do love all this military tosh. It gives hope to all those talentless, lumpen oiks with nothing to contribute in peace time that they do serve a higher purpose, even if it is simply as cannon fodder.

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