We Will Remember Them...

[10ClarionSt]

When you go home, speak of us and say:
For your tomorrow, we gave our today.

They shall not grow 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.
We will remember them.

[Sqad]

evadora.....no problem.

[10ClarionSt]

Sorry squad. Slight mistake. Mary Frye, who wrote the poem, was from the USA.

[evadora]

I think the poem do not stand at my grave was written in 1932.

[Ken4155]

As far as i know, i do not have any close relatives who fell during either of the two great wars. Though i always find myself thinking of my Regiment's sole fatality during 3 tours of Ulster in the 70s. He was a scouse lad called George Muncaster and he was gunned down in the Markets area of Belfast on 23 Jan 1977. George was a quiet, unassuming Everton fan, a good soldier and a decent goalkeeper. George, along with all those who have fallen on active service, you are not forgotten.

[burlyshirley]

What a beautiful thread. Filling up here, again.

[Smowball]

Beautiful thread - my eyes are no leaking. Honestly, it’s absolutely lovely x

[Patsy33]

Lovely contributions.
Those brave young men will never be forgotten.
We must never take our freedom for granted.

[10ClarionSt]

Although my dad rarely talked about the war, he did take part in 2 famous incidents. One was The Channel Dash, in 1942, when the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen sailed through the Straits of Dover. The British response was ineffective as the 3 ships were heavily protected. Having evaded any damage from the British, the Gneisenau struck a mine in the North Sea, limped back to Germany and never saw action again. Scharnhorst was later sunk by HMS Duke of York. Prinz Eugen survived the war and was later used twice by the Americans in nuclear tests.
My dad also took part in the raid on Dieppe. This has gone down as a complete disaster but some historians, including Max Hastings, says that the Royal Marine Commandos had "limited success". My dad was a pilot/coxswain on one of the MTB's that took the Commandos into Dieppe harbour whilst the main battle raged on the beaches. The Commandos raided the headquarters of the Abwher and the SS and stole all the Enigma machines, code books, secret files and documents. They were then ferried back to England on the MTB's. That was the "limited success" that historians talk about. My dad only told me that just before he died in 1992.

We will remember them.

[Atheist]

Sqad, that's the most sentimental twaddle I have ever heard. The poor beggars who did suffer in WW1 would possibly agree with me.

[naomi24]

But possibly comforting to those left grieving. I doubt the fallen would object to a little compassion…..

[Togo]

I too have been thinking today. My dad was a Royal Navy man. Served on the Ark Royal and was transfered to Victorious before she was sunk. Gunnery, mainly on the Bofers, and dangerous work when the fighters were incoming. Hardly ever mentioned it except when with other men who had served. He was named after the youngest brother, one of 5, of his father. The uncle my father never met was killed in the Gallopoli campaign and has no known grave, just a name on the Helles monument. His mother never got over it and died of grief 5 years later. The other 4 brothers all served in the First World War and my grandfather, my dads father, was wounded at Passchendaele, in the head. He was profoundly deaf for the rest of his life with a visible wound indentation in his temple. He was 6ft 2ins tall when he died aged 95 and still ramrod straight. He was , despite being of imposing stature, dominated by my grandmother who was 5ft 2ins tall. My son is named after my late father and his lost uncle. We remember them and tomorrow we are going to have a spot of lunch and drink a toast in thanks.

[Atheist]

Naomi, calling them the 'fallen' is not really accurate for most of them who were blown to bits or had limbs shot off. I agree that verses like this give comfort to the living, but they also tend to romanticise battle, and that I think is wrong.

[naomi24]

It means they fell in battle. I wouldn’t have thought that needed to be explained to anyone …. but there you are.

It romanticises battle only in your mind perhaps. Certainly not in mine.

[Peter Pedant]

In Flanders field the poppies grow
between the crosses row on row
....
we lived, felt down,sunset glow
loved and were loved and now we lie
in Flanders Field

Macrae died Jan 1918

[Peter Pedant]

// My dad also took part in the raid on Dieppe.//
awful disaster
no wonder he wouldnt talk about it

wasnt it 1950 allied dead and 19 Germans ?
Lessons were learned was a catch phrase
The Germans laughed at the prisoners - the live ones and joked that if this was how the British invaded Europe the third Reich really would last 1000 y.

[Togo]

Germans ay. Twice when we went into Euroope they fough us tooth and nail with vicious intent. Then when we decided to leave Europe after all, they fought us tooth and nail with vicious intent.

[10ClarionSt]

Togo, Ark Royal also took part in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Norway. A veteran of that operation who served on the Ark told me that as part of the evacuation, the RAF didn't want to leave their Hurricanes behind and have to destroy them. A plan was hatched to land the Hurricanes on Glorious, something that had never been attempted before. As the Huricanes were approaching the Glorious, all the ships' company from the Ark were on deck to watch this momentous event. The squadron leader at the time was Sir Kenneth Cross. He said they didn't need the full length of the deck. They all successfully landed using only half the deck. Sadly, they were all lost a few days later when Glorious was sunk. Sir Kenneth Cross survived for 4 days in the Arctic Sea, was rescued and went back into service a few weeks later, surviving the war.

The veteran of Ark Royal was a man called Roy Stevens, from Fordingbridge. He also wrote to me. This is a small extract from his letter:

"Although many sad things happened during the war, we didn't really have time to mourn. Many ships were lost or damaged by enemy action; many aircraft failed to return and some which did, went over the side. 'There but for the grace of God....'

I did see tears once; tears shed by men of all three services who had advanced up the desert from El Alamein. It was at a 1942 Christmas concert in a bombed theatre in Bengazi. The padre said, 'We'll sing some carols first'. Sitting in the rubble, under the night sky, they sang Silent Night, with tears upon their cheeks, as thoughts of home came crowding the mind. Tears which should have been shed in our youth and early manhood by years of trials and tribulations of work and raising a family. For some of them, this was their last Christmas."

Poignant memories from a navy veteran. Sad eh?