Lest We forget

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/jomnian/poppies.jpg

[jinks]

For The Fallen.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,

They shall not grow old as we who 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.

[Aunty]

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/jomnian/poppies.jpg

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


And a special remembrance to my grandfather who was captured on the Western Front (WWI) and spent the remainder of the war as a POW in Germany.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bqrRNowf1Q

The Thais (or Siamese) actually sided with the Japanese, after inviting them into the country so that they could invade Malaya. Winston Churchill wanted Siam punished at the end of the war. Siam only started to change sides when they saw the coming defeat of Japan. Most of the thousands of natives who died building the railway were in fact brought in from Malaysia, Singapore etc., and not Thais

[Aunty]

And let us not forget the thousands of Thais and Burmese who died building the Death Railway

Indeed. But eh, wrong war dear.

[jinks]

Indeed. But eh, wrong war dear.

No darling.... ALL WARS.

sanook - according to my foggy memory, when the Japanese arrived in Thailand, somewhere south west the Thai army resisted. The Prime Minister was out of the country at the time. He rushed back and said something like " The Japanese army just conquered China, it's suicide to fight them, we will invite them in".

The British were livid as the Japanese then marched south through Malaysia into the British bastion, Singapore ( where all the big guns faced south - away from the enemy )

Like most of the world the Thais saw the Japanese as unstoppable. The Europeans were busy at war and the USA was isolationist.

If only they had blown up the unprotected gasoline tanks at Pearl Harbour instead of the ships, it would have been another history.

" The Japanese army just conquered China, it's suicide to fight them, we will invite them in".

Wowpow, I can't comment on that statement as I wasn't there, but isn't it a good all round thing for present day Asia that the English government didn't say early 1940 "The German army just conquered Europe, it's suicide to fight them, we will invite them in for tea and crumpets!!!!!" :bom:

There was no English Government then, as there isn't now. That's why we have the West Lothian question.

I haven't worn a poppy this year as there is an increasing attempt in the media here to lump Blair's wars in with the major conflicts. This feeds into letting the British Government off the hook of properly provisioning for the wounded and scarred of these conflicts, in which we should not be embroilled.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

There might be a bit of confusion about this topic.
I think the Brits (and Colonials) among us remember this as Armistice Day. In America today is "Veterans Day".
Alas, many Americans have forgotten the origin of this Holiday (Holy Day?). We seem to be more driven by memories of WW2 and our Civil War.

This is one poster who hasn't forgotten.

So many soldiers have served their countries in wars, both "Just" and unjust.
By and large they were "boys", most no older than our Thai bar/boyfirends.
Some served willingly, some were forced.
We owe it to them not to sacrifice them foolishly or stupidly.

Well, heck.... lets at least raise a glass of whisky (or whiskey) or a beer or whatever to them all.....

A HEARTFELT CHEERS TO ALL VETS! :occasion5:

[francois]

[quote="kenc"]There might be a bit of confusion about this topic.
I think the Brits (and Colonials) among us remember this as Armistice Day. In America today is "Veterans Day".
Alas, many Americans have forgotten the origin of this Holiday (Holy Day?). We seem to be more driven by memories of WW2 and our Civil War.

This is one poster who hasn't forgotten.

Kenc, like many others, Je me souviens. I remember.
Francois

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/jomnian/poppies.jpg

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.



Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Flanders fields looks like ...

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/weblogs/upload/44/12200340284738ffb8baf78.jpg

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/weblogs/upload/44/210508613047390217899ed.gif

written by :

John McCrae he was a Canadian physician who fought
on the Western Front in 1914. In the summer of 1915
he was transferred to the medical corps in France.
He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918

'In Flanders Fields' was written during the second battle of Ypres. It became the best known poem of the first world-war

... "at the going down of the son"

[cottmann]

... "at the going down of the son"

Wrong poem!

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not 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.
They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Robert Binyon, 1869-1943

Wrong poem!Here's the cottman/homintern double act again. Same guy, different acts.

[cottmann]

Wrong poem!Here's the cottman/homintern double act again. Same guy, different acts.

You are becoming quite tedious and not at all curious!