Tomorrow is an important day for our family. Lest we forget on Nov.11th. A bunch of relatives served in WW1-WW2, some were never the same when they came back and some like my great-uncle never got to come home. We sport poppies here due to the famous WW1 poem in Flanders Field, seems to be emblematic of all the sacrifices previous generations had to do to fight for the free world.
I think war is terrible, and it's still a part of our lives with our troops still dying in foreign lands. So it's their day tomorrow.
Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
I'll be working tomorrow. I only get the major holidays off. You're right though....war sucks.
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
Usually in the past the day was conveniently on a weekend, but not this year. I have to work too, although my back is starting to become sore.....
Sadly there are hardly any veterans alive or in walking shape from the first two world wars to march in the ceremonies. You guys have a bit more recent veterans from Nam and even from Iraq.
Posted by Stitch Groover (Member # 2895) on :
Today was actually the 90th anniversary of the end of WW1.
Posted by EleanorJune (Member # 7024) on :
I am making a stop in Michigan to visit my best friend for vets day today. He was killed in the Al Abnar Province on October 29th 2006 by a roadside bomb. He is the inspiration for my Fir Na Dli piece on my side. I will also visit both my grandfathers in the same cemetary who were lost in WWII and my Uncle Gordon lost in Vietnam. My mom has about 200 small flags to take with us. She makes sure everyone has a flag on their grave. She is such a good woman. Though I can't be there tonight, she is having a huge dinner put on at their Town Hall for any and all Vets and their families to come.
[ 11. November 2008, 05:55: Message edited by: EleanorJune ]
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
Wow EJ, I had no idea you lost that much in your family. One of my grandfathers luckily survived the disasterous Dieppe invasion, but had bad wounds. My great uncle died in Germany the last week of the war. Really terrible what war does to families. I've been playing some music at work in kind of a tribute. The Doors Unkown Soldier, Elton John's Funeral for a friend, it's pretty sombre at my workspace.
Posted by EleanorJune (Member # 7024) on :
I never had the chance to meet either one of my grandfather's or my uncle. I wish I could have though. We have a huge military family. I had never heard that song...I will have to look it up.
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
That's real rough about not meeting your grandfathers, one of mine I never met either, he died not too long before I was born. The one I did know I had a really great relationship with, I miss him a lot.
Funny about coincidences. A fellow co-worker I found out had a great-gradfather in WW1 who was gassed at Ypres, the same battle and the exact same thing happened to my great-grandfather. Small world.
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
This shouldn’t just be a day when we remember the dead, but a day to THINK about how generation after generation keeps getting manipulated into wars.
I'm of the opinion that the dead don't need our sorrow, our poppies, brass bands, parades, pomp & circumstance: but maybe they'd appreciate it if we used our intellect, inherent decency and proven capacity for good to stop another generation being wasted in yet another pointless conflict, conflicts engineered to make the rich richer and the poor worse.
Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
Well said Kash.
I'm all for honoring the dead, but one thing about the rituals of honoring the dead that I think is the most ridiculous thing in the world is cemetaries. To steal a line from George Carlin...."to gather up all the dead and place them on one huge piece of land"....what an absolute waste of land. This "ritual" always bothered me. Just my opinion.
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
Burying people bothers me too. I also feel it is a waste...to stick a big stone on land for someone...we are all going to die...and in 100 years nobody is going to know who was who anyway...and I really don't think that anyone's life is more important than anyone else's, we all only get 1. If the human race plans to be around for a billion more years...where will all these people go...It just has been in the past 150 years that people have started putting these huge vaults in the ground and are spending crazy amounts of money for monuments...if your dead...it doesn't matter if your coffin is water proof...now does it? Do people think they will drown.
I just want to see this war that's going on now...to stop...it is a waste. People need to quit killing each other. I have never understood war....because if people are religious...and believe in God, and they believe in "Thou Shall Not Kill" as a Commandment from God...then how does our country tell people to go kill another person? I am talking about every religion on the planet usually follows the basics rules in life...so how can anyone explain war?
Today is actually my old boyfiend's birthday. We had almost got engaged. He was 9 years older than me. I was born on 9-9, and he was 11-11, and my best friend was 12-12.... We always thought that was cool. I thought about him today...and even thought it would be nice to talk to him...with my mom being sick...he was always good to my family...and I just was hoping he was doing well.
I have been having alot of life and death thoughts lately.
I guess this was a good day to have them on.
Posted by jdocster (Member # 5752) on :
We quietly pay our respects. My father is a veteran of Viet Nam and my uncle fought in Korea. I grew up in early childhood in the military so I have always had a certain respect for those who serve.
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
I watch "Saving Private Ryan" every Veteran's Day.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
We sport poppies here due to the famous WW1 poem in Flanders Field, seems to be emblematic of all the sacrifices previous generations had to do to fight for the free world.