Well said.
^^Mention soldiers or war in any thread, and the result is inevitable.
Coventry
Dresden
Thousands of civilians died in horrific circumstances for no other reason than to weaken morale.
Merchant seamen who endured harsh conditions and in many cases lost their lives in the Atlantic convoys.
War is about death. The stories of glory and heroism are told by the survivors. The dead cannot speak of their experiences.
My generation in Europe have been fortunate and we should work to ensure it stays that way.
I see fish. They are everywhere. They don't know they are fish.
A little-known fact is that 32 pigeons were awarded medals during WWII
Animal bravery awards - Dickin Medal pigeons
The lot on my office window ledge are more of the "make love not war" variety.
Posthumous?
Incidentally OP, it's Remembrance Sunday.
This really is the wrong place for political point scoring of any colour.Originally Posted by Boon Mee
Well put.
As a small child I saw Coventry the night it happened but I and my family were the lucky ones we were outside the 'flattened' zone and escaped in tact. We had moved to Coventry after twice being 'bombed out' in London.
Incidentally Coventry was "sacrificed" to this destruction and the British intelligence were well away of the forthcoming raid but chose to do nothing that would arouse the Germans high command that we had just 'cracked' their infamous Enigma coding machine. (Look at the archives - this is not fantasy but fact).
Moved from the area the next day to Sutton Coldfield (my grand father managed to find and rent a place for us) where there were no factories for the German Air Force to bomb or thank goodness it was not a target for demoralisation purposes or revenge. I also feel for the civilians who were on the receiving end of our bombing raids on Germany they were in exactly the same situation as us. War is definitely not glorious for anyone. We should remember the fallen of all sides of the European conflict,civilian or military, they were all victims. And as you say never let it happen again.
"Lest we forget".
Last edited by Brown Sugar; 12-11-2013 at 03:21 PM.
My father & siblings were evacuated from downtown Birmingham (pretty heavily bombed) to rural Stroud- he had a great war! Grandpops stayed behind, making widgets for guns. Seems kinda strange to move a kid from London to Coventry.Originally Posted by Brian Stocks
ATOS is there to save the government money by denying war pensioners what is rightfully theirs. It's also there to shaft the UK tax payers.Originally Posted by chassamuiAtos, G4S paid no corporation tax last year despite carrying out £2billion of taxpayer-funded work
Happy Veterans Day
Veterans Administration in the US is no better. And historically never has been. In 1972, while in college on GI Bill (pittance that it was...), I got a letter from the VA advising me that my (tiny) disability payment for injuries in Vietnam had been reviewed, and was being cancelled. I then entered into a long brawl with the VA, which lasted months and went nowhere. I then got my Senator (friend of my Dad's) involved. He got hold of my VA file only to find out that the VA claims guy I had been brawling with for the past year had been dead for two years, and some clerk was still just auto-penning his signature. Hard to fight a dead man.
Brilliant, took my Mum and Dad while they were alive to the War graves at Kanchanaburi because my Mum lost a naval cousin to the Japs.Originally Posted by Boon Mee
She was fukcing incensed at the Jap tourists who were laughing, giggling and having a great time... she talked about it many times after.
Good on ya dad for pissing on that grave, times change but they were evil bastards.
May be because the United States admires the British SPVA and so follows it's lead? News OverviewOriginally Posted by Davis Knowlton
ATOS is the most appalling company and totally the wrong one to provide the service they do for veterans. The responsibility for your predicament lies with them and not with an overworked, understaffed SPVA. I am sure that SPVA do make mistakes but it largely down to government policy and ATOS in combination that they are put under the spotlight.Originally Posted by PragmaticDangerous conclusions and deaths
Government statistics reveal that between January 2010 and January 2011, 10,600 sick and disabled people people died within six weeks of their benefits having been ended.[36] Government statistics also revealed that in terms of those who had been found 'fit for work' in particular, 1300 of those people died shortly after being declared fit for work by Atos.[37] Atos and the UK Government have usually responded to the 10,600 figure by questioning its authenticity, but its advocates vehemently defend the number's accuracy and allege that if anything, the number is not less but more, as the figure keeps increasing through to the present day. In mid-January 2012, there was a significant scandal as media were alerted to the fact that Atos had found a man in a coma to be 'fit for work'.[38]
Atos assessors have found patients with brain damage,[39] terminal cancer, severe multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's Disease to be fit for work.[40] On 24 April 2013, a woman who was a double heart and lung transplant patient died in her hospital bed only days after she was told, after assessment by Atos, that her allowance was being stopped and that she was fit for work.[41][42]
In August 2011, twelve doctors working for Atos as disability assessors were placed under investigation by the General Medical Council because of allegations of misconduct in relation to their duty of care to patients.
Heart of Gold and a Knob of butter.
This was an IT award for human resources technology. Very little to do with the Veterans element of the agency other than improving communications between MOD departments.Originally Posted by Pragmatic
Good to see Harold got a great send off.
Harold Jellicoe Percival: Hundreds at 'forgotten' World War II hero's funeral on Armistice Day
11 Nov 2013 18:40
More than 300 people turned out to pay their respects to Harold Jellicoe Percival after an online campaign
He died a single man with no friends or family.
But today 700 strangers stood shoulder to shoulder to say farewell to Harold Jellicoe Percival.
The 99-year-old was the one of the last remaining members of the WWII’s Dambusters team.
He had remained single after the one and only love of his life Jessie Campbell died of TB in 1935 and when he passed away no nearby family members could be found.
But today he was buried fittingly at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month.
Harold’s body was carried into the chapel to the theme music to the film The Dambusters.
A community choir sang Jerusalem during the service and the coffin - draped in the RAF and Union flag - departed to the echo of the Last Post.
People had travelled hundreds of miles to pay tribute to a man they had never met.
Harold - who was nicknamed Coe - had lived at a nursing home in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, for the last two years.
For most of his life after the end of the war he had lived a nomadic existence.
Mr Percival’s nephew, David Worsell, who could not attend the funeral, said: “He was a private man.
“He worked in Australia for a number of years as a decorator and would visit England for holidays.
“He travelled around England with only his backpack.
“He didn’t have a postal address - he just used to get everything sent to my mother’s address and would go through it when they met up.”
^ It made the Daily Mail yesterday, he never went forgotten.
Armistice Day in Europe - 95th Anniversary of WW1
Co. Durham
Staffordshire
Also at the ceremony was 93-year-old Dorothy Ellis - thought to be the last surviving widow of a World War One veteran. Her husband Wilfred Ellis survived the war despite being shot, gassed and left for dead
Ypres, Belgium
The Royal Mint, Cardiff
France
Ypres
Harry Marrington from Portsmouth was also there
The Menin Gate features the names of more than 54,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died during World War One who have no known graves. Francesca Shaw, from Leeds, was at the ceremony
^ Great pictures mate, i am oldish but i remember both my Grampas being very attentive to the services for our fallen.
Both were severly injured in WW1 with Pop 1. losing his hearing for the rest of his life when a shell feel near him in the trenches of France. - do the French like us ?
Pop 2. got shot twice at Gallipoli through the shoulder and was semi-crippled for life.
Any disent of our appreciation of our fallen and i'll buy a ticket to where you live and kick your ass.
Great picture addition, Mr. Lick, as always. My grandfather and his two brothers all fought in WWI and survived it; all were wounded and/or gassed. All three fought again in WWII, alongside my father and his two brothers; once again, several wounded, but all survived. My Dad went on to serve two tours in Vietnam, overlapping with me on the second one.
Any visitor to the WWI battlefields and the Commonwealth War Graves of Northern France are always made to feel welcome by the French locals. Likewise in many of the Normandy villages.Originally Posted by dobella
The memorial and Last post ceremony held each evening at the Menin Gate during the summer months is particularly moving.
Very nice and paid for ?..... i am speaking of the French in general who dislike us and we dislike them.
I just have a problem with all the British blood spilt for those cnuts and they still do not respect us.
Try doing a channel trip for cheapies and those fcuking uniforms make life not easy, fcuk them and the whole shithole of France.
Surprised they never sided with Hitler.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)