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Google has remembered today.....



Hopefully it will jog some people memories, maybe even making some sit back and think about the real reason why they have the freedom to do what they want today

Ahoy there!
Just attended the remembrance service at Custom House, London.

"When you go home Tell them of us, and say, For their
tomorrow, We gave our today".

Attended a service at the Cenotaph by Old City Hall in Toronto, pretty well attended and always worth the trek. Ironically, the man who disbanded the Canadian Airborne Regiment and gutted the military to the bone (David Collinette) represented the government at the wreath-laying, but hey, that's Liberal Democracy The contingents were small but their turnout was good and the band played "British Grenadiers" as they marched away from the Cenotaph-truly inspiring.

It is the Veteran

It is the veteran, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the veteran, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the veteran, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the veteran, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the veteran, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the veteran, not the politician,
who has given us the right to vote.

Sticky Blue wrote:it reminds me of some bad days but it is a powerful piece of music.

It reminded me of when they braught back the bodies from iraq when they played the same music,it sent shivers down my spine. I also agree its a very powerfull piece of music.

I have a few points to add to this most excellent thread.

Being from Liverpool and being old enough to remember the docks full of ships from one end to the other, I had a few relatives who served in the Merch during WWII. What is often forgotten about these men is that their pay stopped the moment their ship was sunk. Some of them were torpedoed five or six times. Imagine what that must`ve been like.

We arrived in Oz just before Remembrance Day, last year and I posted then about how Australia remembers. viewtopic.php?t=754&start=15 The visit of little Johnny Howerd to see HM the Q at the new Australian War Memorial has had stacks of coverage down here. Loads of interviews with Veterans and their relations. Festival of Remembrance gets shown here, as does the Cenotaph. Large shops announce the two minutes and all come to attention. Mrs H works in a maternity ward as a midwife. She was asking some mum-to-be to push when the hospital announced two minutes, "Can you hold on for a bit, love?" Mum obliged and lay to attention Just as the silence ended, out pops the sprog My site is over the river from Perth centre, we observed the two minutes and there was a definate lowering in the volume of noise coming across the water. I could hear the odd note of Last Post.
RMA have a Parade the week before and we had a band from the RAN. Musically, very good. Crap at drill, though. They kept swatting flies and a couple of them fainted, it wasn`t even that hot(low 30`s) I had a bit to say, about 150 words, afterwards one of the older members said" Bloody hell, Harry. You did well, remembering that speach" He was even more impressed when I told him I`d snuck up to the lectern before the Parade and sellotaped the words to it I`ve not missed a Parade, since I was about five, it`s me birthday so I never forget

We Will Remember Them,
Aye,

Excellent thread. It is nice to see that so many took part in parades. Sadly I think it may soon become a thing of the past outside of London and the big cities. About 20 Old and Bold marched in Mansfield and apart from the Legion Standard there was only 1 other regular standard plus 2 cadet standards. Before the parade I spotted a mate who was ex-forces and in his blazer and asked if he was marching with us....."No, I get embarrassed" was his reply. I suggested that he could march and 'be embarrassed' or not march and 'be embruised' later. He was a good lad and marched!

One point about the kids though. No end have put money in the tin but do not want to wear the poppy because it is 'an old persons thing'. I found that if I was willing to talk to them they would take the poppy, maybe they wouldn't wear it but would stick it on their bags or take it home to put on the mantlepiece. There were also loads of kids watching the parade on Sunday and the 2 minute silence in the local shopping centre on Tuesday was impeccably kept and there was a majority of young people there.

If I was honest I would say that in this area the young are probably more aware of remebrancetide than the elderly.

I could go on for ages about poppy collecting but do not want to bore the readers.

at the end of the day i think its down to us to keep the young remembering i always make sure (if poss)that my lads are in the living room with me together as they know if it wasnt for certain folk we wouldnt be together today
and to remember the most recent ones too they are all as important