Remembrance

Thanks Grannyacticist for very quick response and pm. Have looked at the site and it bought a tear to my eye but THANK YOU [floweres]

One of my GD and GS were in the parade to the war memorial for the first time as part of the Brownies and Beavers. Luckily it was a sunny day so I wore sun glasses as I found them all marching down the road incredibly moving. I wept buckets at the Menin Gate for the last post too when we visited. My grandfather was an Anzac and I wore an Australian badge for him as well as my poppy for my Dad and others who lost their comrades. What bugs me is that our governments continue to get into wars not of our own making. The tribute made to her son of the mother who was interviewed I found moving but it made me feel angry too. And going back to the original question the answer is yes - two minutes silence is something we can all give

I was in Lincoln hospital attending a specialist appointment at 1108 hours. We found a quiet space at 1100 hours and sat for two minutes but I can say that nothing seemed to change around us. People were wandering around and chatting. My husbands grandfather was severely wounded in the battle of Nonne Bosschen on 11th November 1914 and his two brothers were killed alongside him so, as well as the armistice date commemoration, we have always as a family had November 11th as a special date. That would have been 99 years today. We must never forget.

One Beaver, two Cubs and a Scout - my GC were out in force yesterday though I was too far away to go and watch them. It's good that at such an early age they are made aware of remembrance.

I have something of a problem with remembrance because my father, who served in the far East, would never celebrate the day in any way or acknowledge it - he always said that he could not understand why anyone would want to remember - it is better to forget.

So Remembrance day is a difficult one for me - on the one hand I feel I should honour his memory by letting it pass, but on the other had I do understand the arguments on the other side.

I am also ambivalent about children being burdened with memories of the wars - in a sense it sullies their innocence and that disturbs me. I think that it should wait until they are of secondary school age at least.

I know that these will seem like slightly weird views, but they come from the guts! - I have no choice about them to some degree. They are a part of me and how I was brought up.

They do not lessen my respect for those who were coerced into wars that were not of their making and who stepped up to the plate and did what they had to. I feel deeply saddened by all that loss of life.

I was brought up to observe the silence. My 2 grandfather's were in the first war, and my father in the 2nd. They never glorified any aspect of war. Rarely spoke of it, and were always moderate when we children turned into people who demonstrated agains the Vietnam war. I observed the silence on Sunday and today in memory of those lovely, gentle men and all those who have lost their lives in wars, including in Afghanistan. I spoke to a 93 year old Jewish friend today, she had phone about something different, but inevitably we spoke of Remembrance. What a life she has led, and what an inspiration to us as we age.

I will always observe the two minutes silence. Unfortunately I work in a multi-culteral area and it offends some people, but I am not put off by these foreigners.

It's only in recent years that the 2 minutes silence on the 11th has come in. I observe it if its possible but think its unreasonable for a busy hospital and other busy environments to observe it. There is always the Sunday and other occasions to remember as an individual. We should be careful not to get too strict about it. Ian - I don't understand your post - many many 'foreigners ' gave their lives in wars for Britain