Tag: war

  • Imagine Being Born In 1900

    Imagine being born in 1900.
    When you’re 14 years old
    World War I begins
    and it ends when you have 18
    with 22 million dead.

    Shortly after, a world pandemic,
    a flu called ′′ spanish “,
    kills 50 million people.
    You come out alive and unscathed,
    you are 20 years old

    Then at 29 years you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.

    At 33 the Nazis come to power.
    You’re 39 when World War II starts
    and ends when you’re 45 During the Holocaust (Shoáh) 6 million Jews die.
    Over 60 million dead in total.

    When you’re 52 the Korean War starts.

    When you’re 64 the Vietnam War starts and ends when you’re 75

    A baby born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is,
    and survivors of different wars and disasters survived.

    A boy born in 1995 and today 25 years old thinks it’s the end of the world when his Amazon package takes more than three days to arrive or when he doesn’t get more than 15 ” likes ” for his published photo on Facebook or Instagram…

    In 2020 many of us live in comfort, we have access to different sources of entertainment at home and we often have more than we need.

    But people complain because about everything.
    Yet they have electricity, phone, food, hot water and roof over their heads.

    None of this existed in the past.
    But humanity survived much more serious circumstances and never lost the joy of living.

    Maybe it’s time to be less selfish, stop complaining and crying.

    (Anonymous)

  • Just Ponder On This For A Minute

    Just ponder on this for a minute…

    2020 – We just have to stay in for a couple of months.
    WW II – You have to leave your loved ones and might never see them again.

    2020 – But my kids need some fresh air so we’re all going to the park.
    WW II – Your kids have to be evacuated and live with random good samaritans for their safety.

    2020 – I can only Facetime my family and friends I can’t see them.
    WW II – I have written letters, I’m hoping they’re received and I get a response this year.

    2020 – I am trying to order my food shop online, it’s taking ages to get to me I need, alcohol, and all the other foods I’m craving.
    WW II – Are you coming to queue-up in the line for our rations-potato soup every day of the week?

    2020 – The government hasn’t said we can’t go out, they just said we can but only once to exercise so I’m going to go meet my friends and do what I want.
    WW II – I’m not going out just in case a bomb drops so I will stay in listening to some music quietly because the air raid siren might go off.

    2020 – Netflix needs to sort the streaming out I can’t even watch a series without it crashing.
    WW II – We are sitting in the dark around a candle playing cards keeping as much light in as possible so the warplanes don’t see us from above.

    2020 – Every man for themselves, so I’m going to stock-pile as much as I can because we are more important than anyone else, never mind the elderly that gave us this freedom.
    WW II – I’m so grateful for this community, everyone is helping each other out when and where we can, we must stay strong.

    This is the perspective that we should have, we don’t know how LUCKY we have it and people still aren’t listening.

    Stay in, it really is that simple!

    London Underground in WWII

  • We Remember The Unknown Warrior

    The reason why…….

    On November 7th, 1920, in strictest secrecy, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed from temporary battlefield cemeteries at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme.

    None of the soldiers who did the digging were told why.

    The bodies were taken by field ambulance to GHQ at St-Pol-Sur-Ter Noise. Once there, the bodies were draped with the union flag.

    Sentries were posted and Brigadier-General Wyatt and a Colonel Gell selected one body at random. The other three were reburied.

    A French Honour Guard was selected and stood by the coffin overnight of the chosen soldier overnight.

    On the morning of the 8th November, a specially designed coffin made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the Unknown Warrior was placed inside.

    On top was placed a crusaders sword and a shield on which was inscribed:

    “A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for King and Country”.

    On the 9th of November, the Unknown Warrior was taken by horse-drawn carriage through Guards of Honour and the sound of tolling bells and bugle calls to the quayside.

    There, he was saluted by Marechal Foche and loaded onto HMS Vernon bound for Dover. The coffin stood on the deck covered in wreaths, surrounded by the French Honour Guard.

    Upon arrival at Dover, the Unknown Warrior was met with a nineteen gun salute – something that was normally only reserved for Field Marshals.

    A special train had been arranged and he was then conveyed to Victoria Station, London.

    He remained there overnight, and, on the morning of the 11th of November, he was finally taken to Westminster Abbey.

    The idea of the unknown warrior was thought of by a Padre called David Railton who had served on the front line during the Great War the union flag he had used as an altar cloth whilst at the front, was the one that had been draped over the coffin.

    It was his intention that all of the relatives of the 517,773 combatants whose bodies had not been identified could believe that the Unknown Warrior could very well be their lost husband, father, brother or son…

    THIS is the reason we wear poppies.

    We do not glorify war.

    We remember – with humility – the great and the ultimate sacrifices that were made, not just in this war, but in every war and conflict where our service personnel have fought – to ensure the liberty and freedoms that we now take for granted.

    Every year, on the 11th of November, we remember the Unknown Warrior.

    At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.

    Lest we forget.