In article ,
says...
The British War
Graves Commission encouraged the Germans to clean it up and maintain it, on
the grounds that even if defeated, their men had given their lives, too.
Now it is immaculate and when I saw it there was a fairly newly planted
avenue of trees leading up to it.


My history teacher (a german jewish refugee) when covering the two main
wars came out with "There are no winners only losers, sometimes one side
loses more than the other, never forget, then you will not make the
mistakes we did"
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 15 Jan, 10:08, " cupra" wrote:
My eyes were opened by reading this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Neil.../dp/038560453X
The section on national grief and rememberance in the 20's/30's humbled me.

Strangely the Guardian week end gave a couple of articles on this
topic, the first which moved me so much I circulated it in my
household and the second, The hardest night of their life, the last
mission of a troup of soldiers in Afganistan last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/st...238507,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/st...238511,00.html

wrote:
On 15 Jan, 10:08, " cupra" wrote:
My eyes were opened by reading this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Neil.../dp/038560453X
The section on national grief and rememberance in the 20's/30's
humbled me.

Strangely the Guardian week end gave a couple of articles on this
topic, the first which moved me so much I circulated it in my
household and the second, The hardest night of their life, the last
mission of a troup of soldiers in Afganistan last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/st...238507,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/st...238511,00.html

Both very different, and very sobering, stories.

On 15/1/08 13:23, in article , "Pat Gardiner"
wrote:


" cupra" wrote in message
...
Sacha wrote:
On 15/1/08 11:20, in article ,
"cupra" wrote:

snip
Tens of thousands of Mothers queuing for hours on end to pass the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as it 'could be' their son, families
visiting the battlefields for many years attempting to discover
where their Son/Brother/Father may have been buried, the temporary
plaster Cenotaph being replaced by stone as it became an unexpected
focus of remembrance for years past it's due. And so on....

As I say, a book I'd wholeheartedly recommend.



It's profoundly moving to visit the war cemeteries in Normandy. That
should be part of every child's education.

Absolutely - a visit to the WW1 graves too (something I plan to do soon).

We didn't see one
headstone which gave an age older than 36 and mNY were 18 or so. The
American one was vast because all were buried together but the
British tended to be buried in the churchyards nearest to where they
had fallen, so the military cemetery in Caen is nowhere as large as
the US one. But the first time I visited the US one, I was taken
also to the very sombre German cemetery. What struck me very much
was that at the US cemetery, there had been dozens of visitors and in
the German one, I saw a solitary figure weeping bitterly over a
grave. My hosts told me that the Germans had let the cemetery go to
such a point that local farmers were grazing cows in it and cutting
hay. The British War Graves Commission encouraged the Germans to
clean it up and maintain it, on the grounds that even if defeated,
their men had given their lives, too. Now it is immaculate and when I
saw it there was a fairly newly planted avenue of trees leading up to
it.

As, I'm here asking about Japonicas, I thought you might be interested in a
war memorial that moved me.

I wen't home and wrote about it
http://www.go-self-sufficient.com/lestweforget.htm

Regards
Pat Gardiner


That's a love and quietly remarkable story, Pat. It is just a very little
like a modern version of Jay's Grave on Dartmoor.

http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/th...-do/ghosts.asp
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Thank you for posting my petition on this site.

Yes, I am the Robert Warner who started the petition because I believe that
whilst Remembrance Sunday is quite rightly a day of commemoration,
Remembrance Monday should be a day of celebration, a celebration of
Britishness, a roast beef and Yorkshire pud with family and friends sort of
day.

I know some people will turn their noses up at this, but I do know that all
servicemen and women enjoyed a day's leave!

What people do with it is up to them - Christmas shopping, an afternoon in
the pub, a football match - I don't care. The fact the day is linked to the
ultimate sacrifice people made is enough for it to be a day for Britain.

Yes, the world The Fallen and others fought for has changed, and most people
over the age of 30 will say it has changed for the worse, but the world has
always been changing so there's nothing new in that.

Sign up if you want to - as I type over 170,000 people have done so to my
utter astonishment - or ignore it if you don't.

Either way, it is because we do still live in a relatively free country that
we can have these petitions!

url:http://myreader.co.uk/msg/134446470.aspx

"Robert Warner" wrote in message
.. .
Thank you for posting my petition on this site.

Yes, I am the Robert Warner who started the petition because I believe
that
whilst Remembrance Sunday is quite rightly a day of commemoration,
Remembrance Monday should be a day of celebration, a celebration of
Britishness, a roast beef and Yorkshire pud with family and friends sort
of
day.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5028496.stm

The anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta has been chosen as the best
date to celebrate Britishness. The charter imposed on King John on 15 June
1215 by rebel barons limited the power of the monarch and gave ordinary
people rights under common law.

Its anniversary was picked by 27% of the 5,002 people polled by BBC History
magazine, with VE Day, 8 May, taking 21%, and D-Day, 6 June, attracting 14%.
Chancellor Gordon Brown recently called for a new day for national identity.
In an address to the Fabian Society in January, he suggested the UK needed a
day to celebrate "who we are and what we stand for".

'Surprising choice'

BBC History magazine editor Dave Musgrove said the choice of the Magna Carta
anniversary may indicate the UK is moving on from a "dependence on World War
II as the critical point in our island story".

"It's fascinating, and surprising, that an event from medieval history has
come out above VE Day, all the more so when you consider that it's a
constitutional rather than a militaristic moment that's been chosen," he
said.

Dan Snow, the presenter of BBC history programmes, described Magna Carta as
a worthy winner.
"The idea that the will of the king can be bound by law is as important
today as it was 800 years ago," he added.

"It didn't work in practice but it set a precedent. It advanced the cause of
liberty, constitutionalism and parliamentarianism, which Britain in turn has
passed on to the world."

But some historians pointed out that Magna Carta took place before the union
of Great Britain.

"The problem with a Magna Carta day is that this was originally very much an
English, not a British significant event," said Linda Colley, Professor of
history at Princeton University.

"Though to be sure, it acquired in the 18th and 19th centuries a resonance
for radicals and constitutionalists across the islands."

Other dates considered in the poll were Armistice Day, 11 November; the
abolition of the slave trade, 25 March; Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, 18
June, and Churchill's birth, 30 November.

Hello

I am a BBC journalist who would like to arrange an interview with Mr Robert Warner regarding his petition for a public holiday which now has over half a million signatories. If you see this message Mr Warner - please can you email me on /

Best wishes

Monica

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Warner Thank you for posting my petition on this site. Yes, I am the Robert Warner who started the petition because I believe that whilst Remembrance Sunday is quite rightly a day of commemoration, Remembrance Monday should be a day of celebration, a celebration of Britishness, a roast beef and Yorkshire pud with family and friends sort of day. I know some people will turn their noses up at this, but I do know that all servicemen and women enjoyed a day's leave! What people do with it is up to them - Christmas shopping, an afternoon in the pub, a football match - I don't care. The fact the day is linked to the ultimate sacrifice people made is enough for it to be a day for Britain. Yes, the world The Fallen and others fought for has changed, and most people over the age of 30 will say it has changed for the worse, but the world has always been changing so there's nothing new in that. Sign up if you want to - as I type over 170,000 people have done so to my utter astonishment - or ignore it if you don't. Either way, it is because we do still live in a relatively free country that we can have these petitions! url:http://myreader.co.uk/msg/134446470.aspx