h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Went to the War Memorial today and paid my respects. Not many there at 11, Shame. Maybe they all went there on Sunday? Who knows.

At the going down of the sun

I think Sunday is always the big day. whenever the 11th actually falls. I was at work both days personally, but we observed the silence and had a wreath in our window. Trade was non-existent so I can't testify as to whether or not anyone would have joined in.

There is an increasing awareness here in the UK. Traffic and buses stop here at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month regardless on which day it falls.

Hope you like my little tribute http://www.flickr.com/photos/websailor/


Websailor

Good for you, Websailor

My tribute was a weepy day. Once I'd been to the 11am service I was all emotional for the rest of the day and the tiniest thing set me off Very embarrassing in the office. However, when I explained, people were very cool about it.

Fb

Frenchbean,

Be prepared, it gets worse as you get older It barely affected me when I was younger, even when I had many friends in the Forces, but as I have got older it has begun to hit hard. Strangely, I find Anzac Day hard to watch or listen to, it was so dreadful.

Perhaps because I have two sons, and put myself in the place of the mothers of all those young men. None of my immediate family were in the forces. My Dad was a few years too young for the first war, and almost too old for the second one. They wouldn't let him fight, as he was needed at home to make the munitions etc. Our city was badly hit and they saw some awful things.

We are so lucky not to have had to go through that, and long may it remain so.

Websailor

I think it's thankfulness for not having lived through a war that makes me cry. Let's face it; it's thanks to those who did fight that I have lived in peace. It was their hope and it's come to pass - for me at least. I know that my Dad (who was Home Guard and then TA) and Grandfathers (one an RMC Brig Gen and the other an Admiral), numerous uncles and great-uncles would be proud to know that their sacrifices led to the chance for me to lead a peaceful life (so far at least).

Yes, it gets more emotional with age... and perhaps that's because I have more to be thankful for as I have more years under my belt?

I can't celebrate war, but I do feel very privileged that other people put their lives on the line to give me the chance to live in peace. It's an overwhelmingly humbling experience on Armistice and Anzac Days.



Fb

Excuse my ignorance- what's Anzac day?

Hi, Ben,

Take a look here http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp

It is very interesting.

Websailor

ah, Anzac day always meant to me biscuits and trekking out of school to go down to the war memorial, hang our heads and then piss about pretending we were storming the beaches at Gallipoli. I don't think I really understood it all at school. Nowadays things are different.

I think many of us would have been like that as youngsters, but the realisation dawns eventually. I am finding many young people are taking more interest now. Perhaps it is the power of television and the Internet. It has compressed the world, and time, in a way, by bringing the past alive.

Websailor

I was stunned when my university did absolutely nothing for Armistice Day.

I stood in the foyer of the building I was in for the class that had finished barely 5 minutes before 11am, attempting to observe the silence, but all around me, other students rushed up and down stairs, to and from classes, not really stopping to realize what day and time it was.

No bell, no announcement, no teachers, holding back their classes to show some respect for those who gave their lives. =\

Thankfully, it was a different story in Second Life, where, in a group I'm a member of, we all pulled together at 11am PST to observe the silence together.

Young people don't always realize the importance of the day, and when I was in my teens, I found it difficult to grasp, but... the last couple of years, as I've gotten to know people who have fought in the armed forces, and even know people who are currently deployed... it's come to mean so so much more to me. I take Armistice Day not only as a chance to show respect for the men and women who gave their lives... but also, as a chance to say thank you to those who returned.

*Hug*

It's true, some people really don't acknowledge the 2 minute silence. One of my daughters told me on Tuesday that they'd had a 2 minute silence during her school lesson which I thought was great. At the moment, the school my lot attend is actually being rebuilt and so, for now, they're in the old building, while the big new building on the same grounds will be ready for use in around March, next year. Anyway, she was telling me that her whole class were sitting quietly during the 2 minutes, only for the workmen on the site alongside their building to keep working, clattering about etc. She tells me her teacher was unimpressed and is making a complaint about it.

My trouble historically with the silence is knowing what to think during that period. Recently I have taken to trying to remember the words to Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen- what does everyone else think of during the time?

I actually do think of the men who died. For me, I have a great grandfather who died in WW1 who I researched earlier in the year and I feel great sadness for this human being who missed the growing up of his children and the whole rest of his life because of this war. I think of men being used as cannon fodder and the extreme bravery these men must have had, along with a sense of nationalism.

During the silence I think of the men (mostly boys really) who died a dreadful death, of the ones who returned, maimed or with memories too dreadful to talk about. I think of the mothers, fathers and children who lost loved ones and lastly of the ones out there now, away from their worried (but proud) families, who may not come back, and again those who will bring awful memories home.

Whatever we think of the present day wars, we should treat our soldiers, sailors and flyers with the respect they deserve, for doing a job no-one else wants or believes in.

Websailor