Discussion Forum

For all remaining US veterans, THANK YOU.

And for FRANKIE THE J: GET WELL SOON from the BAND OF BROTHERS!

And sisters.

Happy Veterans Day and Armistice/Remembrance Day to you all.

Happy Veteran's day to all those who served, supported, and gave the ultimate sacrafice so others may live in freedom.
It's a special day indeed.


Note: For our UK friends....Just read about the Gordon Brown letter flap. Geez! That guy has a big problem. It seems the Mom who lambasted him for over 10 minutes on the phone had some valid points about troop support in addition to being righfully angry about such a dismal letter attempt.

We salute all Veterans today. Thank you for your service.

A thank you to all those currently serving.

Thanks to the Vets.

Every year I try to remember old friends lost by having a glass of wine and listening several times to an old recording of "Once I Was" by Tim Buckley.

Strange times while in the military and reading the "Stars & Stripes" to see who was killed. This was during Vietnam.

You can probably listen to it on here. I recommend it. Especially under, "Remember Our Troops".

Buckley died young, too.

-Bureau

Gorgon Brown's an IRA shit.

I don't know Frankie - but - Get Well Soon Frankie

Do our American pals ever get to see TV coverage of our UK

Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall?

Always on the nearest Sunday to the 11th.

Also - do you wear poppies?

In Flanders Fields

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.

- Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918 )

We Shall Keep The Faith
Moina Michael
(written in 1918 in response to In Flanders Fields)

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.


We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.


And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

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Quote: Colonel Juan

Also - do you wear poppies?

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Members of the different Veteran's organizations are outside of many stores today selling poppies. I always buy more than one, and for more money than they ask.

I've also taught my kids that if they don't buy at least one poppy on Veteran's Day, I'll kill them for being ungrateful little shits.

As you can see, I've quoted the famous Flanders Fields poems above.

I've often wondered if Flanders ever got paid for that field. It was a big field and it was probably his sole source of income.

Thanks for sharing those two beautiful poems Jalapenoman.

My father fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands during World War Two. He served in The Alaskan Defense Command led by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.

God Bless All Of Our Veterans.

With Tremendous Appreciation,
Abel

Even thugs and muggers appreciate the freedoms they posses thanks to the sacrifice our men and women in uniform have been making all these years. Freedom is never free. Thought you might like this little story...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/bizarre&id=7112314

Thanks sincerely to all Veterans.
PM

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Quote: Abel Rodriguez

Thanks for sharing those two beautiful poems Jalapenoman.

My father fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands during World War Two. He served in The Alaskan Defense Command led by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.

God Bless All Of Our Veterans.

With Tremendous Appreciation,
Abel

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You are very welcome.

My father served in the army after the end of the Korean War. One of my grandfather's fought in France in WWI, while the other fought in the Pacific in WWII. My father in law served in the Air Force during Vietnam, as did my ex-father in law. Multiple uncles and cousins have served or are serving in the military.

My dad was one of the lucky ones to survive the British Army in WWI. In WWII he got posted to military intelligence liaison with the Yanks.

My husband is a US Navy man - they trained him as a doctor and he went on some very dodgy classified missions in the Arabian/Persian Gulf in the 1970s when the Russians were using submarines to smuggle all kinds of atomic contraband.

Mostly he was in medical wings and in various hospital ships treating victims of post traumatic stress disorder, called shell-shock in those days.

His dad was in the US Army - Korean War I think - and then later worked in some sort of Pentagon department that investigated US mobster crime cartel connections to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

One of our sons served a commission in the UK Army in Kosovo during the 90s. The younger boys aren't so gung-ho which has spared my maternal nerves somewhat~!

Eternal respect and gratitude for all the men and women who bore arms to fight for their beliefs and to ensure a safer world for future generations.

I've never fought in a war. These wonderful people fought so that my generation wouldn't have to.

God bless them all.

Skoob.

Another poem, by WWI poet Wilfrid Owen


Anthem For Doomed Youth

What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.


Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 - 4 November 191

Much appreciation to all who have served and sacrificed.

Lovely Queen Mudder. And your story that straddles the Atlantic - just like your avatar..

My very favourite Wilfred Owen is his sonnet... ending

"Was it for this the clay grew tall -
Oh what made fatuous sunbeams toil to wake earth's sleep at all."

I think I know it from memory...

It's about the sun and healing and the snow and death...

and war!!!

Thank you for Flanders Fields, J-Man. It always gets to me.
------------
One afternoon in 1986, I was walking through Chicago's Union Station toward my train home. I suddenly realized that the station was awash in veterans. A guy in worn fatigues and Vietnam vet hat came up and hugged me, tears in his eyes. He thanked me for remembering him.

I'd forgotten that earlier in the day, Chicago had hosted a "Welcome Home/Thank You" parade for Vietnam vets. In the few minutes it took to get to my train, I was hugged or had my hand shaken at least eight times. I boarded in tears.

My humble gratitude to all who served and died to preserve America's freedom. And also to my British brothers and sisters - who stood so courageous in WWII under the valiant Churchill - and who stand by us still.

People and words on this discussion is why I had to come back on here.

"a time to laugh and a time to cry"

I invite anyone to go to the video and song "Civil War" by Guns & Roses and watch. It's gut wrenching but worth the seven minutes or so. A lot of the film came from "Saving Private Ryan".

You won't be the same after watching it. "Civil War by Guns & Roses".

-Bureau

War can bring out the coward in some people.

But it brings the hero out in others.

Thank you to those who served and to those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free.

(And write satire!)

Has anyone read the short story, 'The Things They Carried'?

It's about soldiers in Vietnam. It's very moving.

and to every one who replied....PEACE!

Great thoughts, kind words, and compassion....

Great Spoofers All!

Morse

We're all just a bunch of soppy bastards underneath the hard nosed satirical veneer.

But I couldn't wish to be associated with a nicer bunch of soppy bastards.

TO THE REGIMENT!

Skoob.

In a different war and different time, I can remember standing in an airport vestibule waiting for my Mom and Dad to pick me up. It was 1968.
I was dressed in a 'Class A' Army uniform, had my duffel bag at my feet, and was looking forward to my leave-time before I reported to Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
From out of nowhere, a raggety flower-powered 'hippie chick' came up to me and called me a 'pig,' and walked away. I was stunned. We were warned that our reception at home might be 'mixed,' but didn't expect to be slimed so publically.
An older man saw and overheard the encounter and came over and shook my hand, telling me something I'll never forget...He said, 'Son, ignorance and hatred is something you just fought to rid the world of and an ocean will never keep that kind of stupidity away from our shores. Welcome home.'

So, to all who returned a big welcome home and thanks for a job well done!