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#1
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:21:07 -0000, "'Mike'"
wrote: "Fuschia" wrote in message .. . I am very much in favour of Remembrance for the fallen. However it seems to me from the commercial support for the petition that this is being used as an excuse, a label, for just another public holiday. It will be used as an excuse for various commercial, consumer-oriented activities that have nothing to do with Remembrance. Christmas and Easter are bank holidays because they are religious festivals, but only a minority use them to go to church. The majority use them as an opportunity for parties. If we have a Remembrance day off work, I believe the majority will also use that for parties. Is that what we want? Well said. That is why I will not sign the petition Mike I am old enough to remember Armistice Day observance in the late 1930s and early 40s because my father had been wounded in the first world war and felt deeply about Armistice Day. It always happened on 11 Nov at 11 am and that fixed time was its great strength. It was the way that virtually everything stopped for those two minutes which made a huge impression - there were parades and services but it was the almost universal observance of the 2 minutes silence no matter what was otherwise happening that mattered most. Shops stopped, cars stopped, even buses, but not trains although a station departure would be delayed. Turn that into a day off and nobody will observe that crucial two minutes silence. Just to touch on another part of this thread, the Remembrance Day service at the war memorial in my small town has been attended by increasing numbers in recent years and all ages are present. Guy Gorton |
#2
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
Guy Gorton wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:21:07 -0000, "'Mike'" wrote: "Fuschia" wrote in message ... I am very much in favour of Remembrance for the fallen. However it seems to me from the commercial support for the petition that this is being used as an excuse, a label, for just another public holiday. It will be used as an excuse for various commercial, consumer-oriented activities that have nothing to do with Remembrance. Christmas and Easter are bank holidays because they are religious festivals, but only a minority use them to go to church. The majority use them as an opportunity for parties. If we have a Remembrance day off work, I believe the majority will also use that for parties. Is that what we want? Well said. That is why I will not sign the petition Mike I am old enough to remember Armistice Day observance in the late 1930s and early 40s because my father had been wounded in the first world war and felt deeply about Armistice Day. It always happened on 11 Nov at 11 am and that fixed time was its great strength. It was the way that virtually everything stopped for those two minutes which made a huge impression - there were parades and services but it was the almost universal observance of the 2 minutes silence no matter what was otherwise happening that mattered most. Shops stopped, cars stopped, even buses, but not trains although a station departure would be delayed. Turn that into a day off and nobody will observe that crucial two minutes silence. Just to touch on another part of this thread, the Remembrance Day service at the war memorial in my small town has been attended by increasing numbers in recent years and all ages are present. 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. |
#3
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
The section on national grief and rememberance in the 20's/30's humbled me. Possibly because of this? (Part of one of my lectures) ..July 1st 1916 ..First day of the Battle of the Somme. ..57,470 casualties. ..19,240 dead. ..'Just pour more men in' ..885,138 Military Deaths in WW1(All Services) Kind regard Mike -- www.rneba.org.uk. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association. 'THE' Association to find your ex-Greenie mess mates. www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly |
#4
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
'Mike' wrote:
The section on national grief and rememberance in the 20's/30's humbled me. Possibly because of this? (Part of one of my lectures) .July 1st 1916 .First day of the Battle of the Somme. .57,470 casualties. .19,240 dead. .'Just pour more men in' .885,138 Military Deaths in WW1(All Services) Kind regard Mike I had a pretty good grasp of the battlefield casualties - what was humbling was the concept of national remembrance and the idea of the unknown soldier.... 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. |
#6
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
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. |
#7
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
" 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 |
#8
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
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 |
#9
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
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 |
#10
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OT Remembrance Monday Bank Holiday petition
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. |
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