This weekend as is usual here in Europe, we have Rememberance Weekend which commemorates the dead of WW1 and WW2.
The dead of the war are commemorated at the Cenotaph in London, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, at the Menin Gate at Ypres and throughout former British Empire countries like Australia and New Zealand.
It was interesting wtaching France play New Zealand last night in Lyons, the the AB's had the red poppy (symbol of rememberance) on right arm sleeves of the jerseys. (great win for NZ too!).
In 1945 my father left Chinatown in San Francisco to find a better life and fought in Nuremburg(sp?), Germany as an Army Infantry man. He and his group won a bronze star for diverting machine gun fire while the rest of his company flanked the machine gun nest and flushed them out.
Every Veteran's Day is special to me. I remind my 5yo daughter how proud she should be of her grandfather because he fought for our freedom and because he is very proud of her.
My father was in the Phillipines. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Medal. His brother ,my uncle ,landed at Normandy and is laid to rest there I am told as I never met him. A salute to the greatest generation may their sacrifice always be remembered and not be wasted in time.
i didnt get to a service this year....i have a pathetic excuse. I have sold my house and bought a new on in sunny Aberdeen....200 miles away. I got a new job and and staying in a b&b for a month.
strange how we priorotise our lives so that convienience comes first. I feel bad. My grandfather was in the Navy fought the Germans in the North Altlantic and the Arctic ocean as well as escorting trade ships all over the south pacific. Seen many people killed, survived a few U boat torpedos and sinking ship....things that are utterly in inaginable in our humble lives.
I had a great uncle that fought in France (WW II), though I don't know where/which battle(s), and another that fought the 'Japs' in New Guinea. Meanwhile, my grandparents owned a 200+ head dairy farm back then, where about 45% of their output went to the military bases.
