remembrance day

Remembrance Day is special to me, my parents were married in January 1942, but then my father, who was in the RAF, was killed in action the following December, only 11 months after the wedding, and 6 months before I was born.
Strangely, my first child was born on Dec 5th 1963, exactly 21 years to the day after her grandfather was killed.

We watch the Cenotaph march past each year and admire the look of pride on the faces of the marchers. Such pride.
I was pleased to see my hero in the parade, Private Bill Speakman, VC. What a man.
Brian.

We were in Whitehall a few years ago to watch the march past The Cenotaph. It was a very moving experience. It is a remarkable feat of organisation to get that many people into position for the parade. The participants have to stand around for a considerable time before it is their turn to go, and my heart went out to the most elderly of the veterans who waited gamely in the cold just for the privilege of marching with their comrades. Even though chairs were provided for those who needed them, many didn’t manage it and succumbed to the conditions before the parade started; their sadness was evident. And of course, in recent years, the parade has been swelled with many additional organisations to the military and the civil defence authorities, so the muster takes even longer. I admire them all.

I did shed a tear. My Dad was a Royal British Legion standard bearer all the time I was growing up. Every year we went to Church for the service of Remembrance and then, walking behind the Parade, we went to the Cottage Hospital where our local War Memorial is, to lay the wreaths. As a child we were often walking in falling snow. My Dad died two years ago,cans this year I really missed him.

I am so sorry I have posted the above post in the wrong place and don't know how to move it! Help!

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I get far more emotional about it too. Talking to friends yesterday, each one of us had at least one family member who was killed in WW1. It is sobering to think of that multiplied throughout the country. Very few communities came through that time unscathed.

It has always been very poignant to me. Not only because my grandfather and father fought in both World Wars but because DH, many of our friends and me were in the Services. This year especially tugs at my heart as my dear friend from the Wrens died a few weeks ago. Of course those that are no longer with us are always remembered but especially on Remembrance weekend. To absent friends.

I remember being terribly upset when DS went off to university and an elderly neighbour, in a kindly way, telling me not to be so daft as it wasn't as if I was waving him off to war! It has always been a sobering thought that my grandma would have waved her husband off to war in WW1 and her son (my Dad) off to war in WW2. Both survived. Remembrance Day was a big event in our household with my Dad shedding a silent tear during the Festival of Remembrance when they sung Abide with Me and him standing to attention during the the televised march past the Cenotaph.

Yes, I do feel very sad that those thousands died for our freedom and yet we have made such a mess of the world.

I always watch the service at the Cenotaph, and shed tears as the veterans march past.

Both my parents served in WW2 so it still means something to me, but I wonder about the next generation who must feel somewhat disconnected from the happenings of so long ago.

Yes I agree but for me its more about our young serving personnel now having to go through war and its consequences.

Yes, I do. Mainly because as I progress in my family history research I learn more about the 4 members of my family (Grandfather, 2 Great uncles and and my other grandfathers adopted brother) who died in WW1 and think of the good fortune that meant that my grandfather and his seven sons, all who served in WW2 survived and were none of them injured.