Rememberance Sunday

I never watch it, because I cannot bear to see the politicians who are going to send other young people to their deaths prancing about trying to look at their best and impress us. They fail - I am not impressed.

I also was moved by the ceremony as I am every year, great sadness, extreme pride in our armed forces and humble gratitude and deep respective for all those veterans, young and old. Not much else to say really except thankyou to them all.

I only hear it on the radio, don't have TV on until around 7.30pm. Perhaps audio only means that one misses out on some of the very moving images (veterans in wheelchairs etc)

I was thinking about how different things seemed when I was young. I remember my dad and most of the men we knew being very reluctant to march or do anything that seemed at all military. They wore a poppy and stood in silence but with a great sense of sadness. They had served and done their bit, they wanted to remember the people who were lost but they didn't want anyone to think there was any glory in it. I don't find the parade half as moving as the sound of a bugle playing the Last Post breaking the silence. It's all a bit jingoistic now for me.

Me too trisher - I remember my Dad and his thoughts about it all.

I think this morning was the first time ever David Dimbleby didn't talk over 'Dido's Lament'

My dad didn't have any thoughts, as he was killed a month before I was born. For him, other family members, and the thousands of families like ours, before and since I feel nothing but pride and gratitude.

I always watch it if I can but I struggle to understand 'The Glorious Dead', there's nothing glorious about war.

I find it incredibly poignant and moving once they get past the politicians.

No, war isn't glorious, no one is suggesting that it is, but people who give their lives to defend their country and protect the people who live there are glorious, and sadly dead.

I ignore the politicians, wish they didn't have to be there really.

They said at the end, the servicee is not to glorify war in any way, but to remember all those who made such a sacrifice, just normal, often terribly very young, men and women.

It's right that they shouldn't be forgotton. This day for me is just to say thank you and respect to them and their families.

We forget those who joined up in WW1 were led to believe it would be over in a few months , no idea of the horrors which lay ahead for them or how long it would last , they came from hamlets and cities, from isolated farms and many were so young

.......and were excited about it. How they were duped.

Yes I was just listening to Gardeners Question Time about Lost Gardens of Heligan. They said there were 12 gardeners from Heligan went off to WW1 and only 4 returned. I'm sure they had no idea what hell they were going to.

Also a relative of mine has been researching his family tree. He's found a newsaper cutting from 1917 about his family. All seven brothers enlisted. Two were injured. Three were killed, all within 1 month of each other. Just doesn't bear thinking about.

I enjoyed if that's the word the Senotaph service this morning on TV. We would usually attend our church but both of us have chest infections and were warned that the heating has broken down in church. I am always moved by the stories. We usually watch the British Legion Remembrance Service at the Albert Hall but I'm sorry to say the 'modernisation' of the event has spoilt it for us. I was very upset to see Pixie Lott and Rod Stewart giggling together and I didn't find either of them appropriate to the setting and Pixie could not hit her notes. There are any number of wonderful young singers they could have used if there intention is to interest a younger audience.

My parents served in WW1 and my brother was in the Royal Navy - they all loved the services and I watch it and think of them.

A lot of the time when men returned from WW1 they were so traumatised, that it made life very tough both for them and their families. My Grandfather was gassed and shell shocked, not that badly, but he died aged 56 in 1949, from respiratory problems, which was attributed to his time in France. DH's grandfather was killed in France in March 1918, having survived since joining up in 1915! So near and yet so far! How to prevent conflict? I really don't know, perhaps someone somewhere will come up with an answer.

niggleynellie, we have something in common, my father was also killed in WW2, just 6 months before I was born, he was 22, and he and my mother had been married just 11 months.

I couldn't watch today as grandchildren arrived unexpectedly early , and were here for most of the day.I don't overthink this ceremony, just see it as a yearly reminder for how thankful we should be that the brave men and women, who fought in the two world wars, should never be forgotten.

Indeed we do numberplease, and it's really nice to say hello to you. My father was killed over Holland, shot down by a night fighter,on Dec 20th 1942. I was born five weeks later. They had been married for 21 months, six of which my father was in South Africa training as a bomber navigator. My mother had quite a tough time, as I'm sure yours did, but we were lucky as in 1947 my mother was married again to a wonderful man who had been a POW in the Far East. (according to my granny they were looking for wives!!!!!) Unfortunately I remained an only child, but my stepfather was was a wonderful father to me and a loving devoted husband to my mother. To say the day they met was our lucky day is an understatement! They are both dead now, but we all had forty happy years, for which I'm extremely grateful.

Went to a local war memorial ceremony today and it was moving to see all ages taking part with great respect.
My dear Dad fought in WW2 and used to get very cross about the sentence "They gave their lives..." He used to remark that they didn't give them, they were taken from them.
I took Dgs to,look at the wreaths later and was appalled to see that the UKIP wreath had a card saying " Still fighting for our freedoms" . I don't think this is the place for political statements

I think if people volunteered for a particular service or expedition then imo they did give their lives, as they would have deliberately put their life on the line. Those who were conscripted did have their lives taken from then.

Sorry for this! I was unable to watch the Remembrance Day service this morning so watched the highlights this evening. I always find this programme very moving and as usual it was just that - except for watching a certain person not bowing his head as he laid his wreath for his party. It made me very angry as it is not a place to be making a political gesture, and every other person there either bowed or saluted with respect. If this is the future of this country then I am glad that I will not live to experience it. God help us!

What can you expect from a man who has previously described the tradition of wearing a poppy as a 'mawkish festival'?

He's having to do things as Labour leader that he obviously feels very uncomfortable about. One has to wonder how long he can keep it up.

Blair bowed, whilst at the same time sending troops to an illegal war, so creating more dead to remember. I think I can cope with JC's stance better.

I think it is good that we remember but underpinning it all with tear jerking music and uniforms is not correct, it glorifies war.I don't watch it. All my tears and gratitude can't bring them back again. Many died through bad planning and organisation.
Perhaps Corbyn is right and the veterans will still continue to remember their comrades.