Lest We Forget

[Craig]

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/ ... membrance/

Today marks the 91st anniversary of the Armistice, commemorated in Australia and elsewhere as Remembrance Day – a day on which we honour all those whose lives have been lost in wars and conflicts.

By the 11th of November 1918, when the Armistice brought an end to the First World War, more than 60,000 Australians had lost their lives and another 156,000 had been wounded or taken prisoner. The names of the many thousands who have no known grave are commemorated on the Australian National Memorial in France, the Menin Gate in Belgium and the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.

On the first anniversary of the Armistice, at 11am, Australians, for the first time, paused in their work and stood in silent tribute to the men and women who had not returned from the battlefields. Today we will continue that tradition in honour of the more than 102,000 Australians whose lives have been lost in wars and conflicts.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Indeed.

[yusuf]

Thanks Craig ..a bunch of people at the eurostar terminal managed to stand and be silent this morning . some Germans joined in as well and its worth remembering how many people died on all sides...

although there were going to be two more as a couplet of chavs were trying to be clever... i think they were glad the eurostar security went and had a word before a large taxi driver chap stomped them

[Darth Rock&Roll]

My Great Grandfather died on the Somme. My family is peppered on both sides with men and women who served and who willfully gave their lives to put down oppression, fascism and totalitarianism so that their family didn't have to live in a world filled with masters and slaves where there were very few masters and a great deal of slaves.

This is what I am remembering. I remember them that died before I even existed so that I could have a chance at really living a good life in a place that I could make choices about how I want to live that life.

It is sad that war is still a mechanism we as a species use to bring this about, but it is even more sad that there are forces in the world still that would seek to conquer us all and put us under their boot and their view.

I remember our most recent dead servicemen and women, who are still to this day effecting and affecting change in the world to make it better for others. Other people who have no connection to me at all. We must continue to do what is right, until it IS right.

It behooves us all to keep that in mind as we remember our friends, family and countrymen who served that ideal for us.

E Tenebris Lux

[Mut]

Lest we forget

[Interloper]

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
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.

[Finny]

Lest We Forget.

[Chanchu]

Salute and respect to all Vet's, esp the combat troopers.

War is alway horrible- WWI was one of the worst..

Very very few vets left from the 'great war'.

Thanks to all those who served.

[Andy_S]

Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young.

- Housman