At the going down of the sun . . .

[Father Bill]

We will remember them.

[David Thorpe]

Aye, Padre.

[Lorna]

Lest we forget....

[Lorna]

A tribute to our recent war dead by the Trews.



Kilts and bagpipes at 2:02.

[pbutts]

[Phil]

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.


Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.


They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.


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.


They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.


But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;


As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Robert Binyon, 1869-1943

[BCAC]

Just thanks. No more. No less.

[Pleater]

At some point each year, in the days after 11/11 I always find myself pondering on how I am only here because of two deaths.

My mother's mother was married and had two children when her husband went off to war - he died on the first day of what came to be known as the battle of the Somme, and my mother was born in 1927 one of the eight children by her second husband. He was shot and affected by gas during his war service, but he was naturally left handed and he was shot in the right arm - he got his gas mask on in time but others around him did not.

After the Great War there were several epidemics, and two children died.

As a young teenager my mother had a boyfriend who went to be a sailor and he died in WW II as a result of enemy action, so in her early twenties she married my father, but she had a little suitcase in the bottom of her wardrobe and an antique chocolate box full of old letters and cinema tickets.

My Dad had a small scar on his temple, where a bullet from a burning aircraft just grazed him in passing, so it was a close thing for him - but he survived a couple of close calls, and came home.

It makes me a bit thoughtful.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Laird_M]

Well, the Buddhist in me says that you were fated to be born no matter what.

I had a few very close calls whilst serving, but managed to survive (unlike the rest of my squad who stayed in) before medical discharge, so I guess I was fated to leave, and survive to meet my wonderful wife.

Fate/Kismet/Karma, etc., are very potent forces...

[MizzouScotsman]

In honor of my ancestors, and all those who came before me, that gave their all that I might live in freedom....I thank you.