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Remembrance day isn't as big down here as ANZAC day but it's still observed in some ways.
I'd just like to ask, if you have a moment today can you ponder the fallen & those who've served in all wars? Perhaps you're an army brat & remember going to services in the rain or snow etc.
Have a listen to Bryan Adams' song "Remembrance Day"
http://www.jimvallance.com/01-music-...membrance.html
I will certainly remember them. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we celebrate Veteran's Day. We'll be in school, so I'll make sure to do something with my students, too.
This one is good too. Canadian Terry Kelly. I cry everytime I watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyrCm5e32qc
Unfortunately veterans and the idea of military personnel have taken on political overtones and the men and women who have served, are serving, will serve, and those who paid the ultimate price have gotten lost in the shuffle.
I for one have never stopped thinking about them since the Viet Nam days of my college years. Whenever I see anyone in uniform, I go up to them and thank them for serving.
Recently I had lunch at my favorite cafe where frequently I would see a truck decked out in Viet Nam memorabilia and I'd always try to find the vet in the restaurant and never could. It was a bitter man who decked out his truck with the sentiments of being forgotten as a vet.
When I went out to my car, I stopped and wrote a note that said "Thank you for serving our country" and put it under the windshield wiper. I waited in my car for quite a while until a man came out of the restaurant and saw the note tucked under his wiper. He looked angry and marched over to the truck to tear it off. Apparently other people had left rude notes because of his truck decorations.
He whipped the note from the wiper, looked at with a twisted face. And then, I saw a deep intake of breath from his chest as he touched his heart with his hand and uttered what was clearly a half-swallowed sob.
I will never forget that sight as long as I live. Finally someone had welcomed him home from Viet Nam. I cried all the way back to the lab and I suspect he cried too.
Let's be kind to each other and "welcome each other home" whether they are in the military or not.
My brother is a Viet Nam vet, I do understand.
My father and uncles were WW2 vets. My dad died many years ago. So for quite a few years I would go to Canada and spend Remembrance Day with his best friend, the man who introduced him to my mother. We would go to the air force club in Dundas. We would go to the parade, and we would talk about my Dad. Danny died a couple years ago and I miss those trips to Canada. I have off on that day, govt worker. I always take time to think of all those who gave so much for our country (and others, as my dad was a Canadian air force vet).
The last year we were at the parade and the guy talking made some comment about how much we owe and how maybe that guy in front of you who is walking so slow, maybe you owe him. The guy down the street in the wheelchair, maybe you owe him. You should be sure to thank the men and women that serve and make you safe. He is still saying this when this guy standing beside us, big hippy looking guy, just grabs my little 85 yr old uncle and hugs him tight. Scared the crap out of him I think, but sure did make me cry.
So yes, thanks to all on here who have and do serve and to any and all of your family that have and do serve, thank you and prayers for them all!
Is McCrae's poem still part of the curriculum for our youth? It should be.
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.
The poem is read at our mandatory Remembrance Day Assembly every year. Plus we have the day off to attend the city services where we will hear it once again.
On a soapbox..excuse me for a min :o
I think it should be compulsory for students to listen to a war veteran speak about thier experiences. How many kids in the Canada understand what Vimy represents?
Not only that, teens should be encouraged to learn more about Fromelles, Paschenedale, Vimy Ridge, Gallipoli, Chunuk Bair (will get the correct sp in a min) from WW1 all the way up to Long Tan during the Vietnam War.
My father used to visit schools as part of a legion program teaching students about peacekeeping. I'm sure the kids thought his stories from The Sinai, Cyprus, Bosnia, Somalia & other places were quite interesting.
One day..One day..
We generally have a war vet come to our school to speak at our assembly each year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazycanuck
Last year, I emailed someone in our town government about a slightly military related topic. When he answered me, he ended with, "and thank you for your son, Scott's, service in the Marine Corps."
I was kind of amazed that he had taken the time to find out my son's name, and what branch of the service he was in.
I am now very aware of veterans, in a way that I never have been.
My beloved dad was a career military man who spent most of my youth in SE Asia with three tours in Vietnam. I am an Army veteran and Veterans Day was always really special to he and I. I went to visit his grave in the National Cemetery on Sunday, standing there with him and all our fellow Vets was comforting, I'm glad he's resting with them.
I was born and raised in a family with a long history in the military. Grew up as an Air Force brat, and now for various twists of fait, I work for the Army Corps of Engineers.
My natural father was a navigator in the Air Force, and was killed in a plane crash when I was 3 days old. When I was 2, Mom remarried to an AF pilot - there was a concerted effort that young AF widows did not stay widows for very long.
During part of Viet Nam, Dad was an ROTC prof at a southern university - so we didn't see demonstrations on campus, then he got orders to go over there. When he returned, my sister was 18 mo old, and had no concept who the strange man was in the house - Daddy was a photo, and a voice on the cassette tapes. Her brain couldn't process that the living breathing man was Daddy. He was so hurt that she was afraid of him. Then we got sent to an AF base in Michigan - where university students would drive 3+ hours to come demonstrate outside the gates. But as a kid, I liked living there better than the civilian neighborhood I left - the kids understood what was going on, and why Daddy wasn't home. Of course we knew what happened when a family suddenly moved away while the Dad was gone - he was either MIA or dead. But base services were there to help them, help us, and protect us from the university kids protesting just outside the gate. Never liked them, it wasn't MY fault my Dad was in Viet Nam :mad:, for two tours.
Dad did come home, but he wasn't the same ever again. When he retired it got worse. I talked to a counselor at the VA at a job fair once. He was one of those men who needed the regimented life, and once he retired, all those ghosts came back. He always prided himself that he always brought his crew back, although not necessarily alive (Dad was a B-52 pilot). However, one time when he was telling "no kidding there I was..." stories to my brother's roommates from the AF Academy who were going through pilot training (lubricated with a drink or two or three), he told us about the time he got shot down, and when he came to, he was looking at the wrong end of his own pistol. Fortunately the villagers that found him were only interested in robbing them, and it helped they were very close to a US military base.
Dad suffers from severe PTSD - certified nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake. If you met him, you wouldn't know, thanks to modern pharmaceuticals. But he's bitter towards the government, has destroyed all his medals. During a 5-yr dark hole in his life, was in and out of jail and VA psych wards. Fortunately his best friend is also a Vet, as Dad won't go to therapy sessions at the VA. Two tours of 'Nam ruined his sanity, and his marrige to my mother.
So on Veteran's Day / Armistice Day I remember my Uncle Pat, that I never knew, who was killed over Italy during WWII; my Uncles who served in Korea; my Dad who lost his mind thanks to 'Nam and the lack of services for Vets during that era (even now the military is loath to admit servicemen and women are having mental health problems); my brother who currently serves in the Air Force; and my colleagues - military and civilian - that have or are currently serving in Iraq and Afganistan.
And I can't hear the "Going Home" lament without choking up.
I also look for the men from the VFW hall selling poppies. Hope I can find one today.
Sorry this is rather long, but Veteran's Day is a difficult one for me. :(
To end on a happy note.... Thank you to the people of France that respectively continue to take care of the cemetaries for the foreign soldiers that fought and died during WWII.
Very touching stories everyone. Thanks for sharing.
Lest we Forget...
Thank you
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~