Remembrance Day

[tealin]

Comments

Carry On

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

The Spirit
When there ain't no gal to kiss you,
And the postman seems to miss you,
And the fags have skipped an issue,
Carry on.

When ye've got an empty belly,
And the bulley's rotten smelly,
And you're shivering like a jelly,
Carry on.

When the Boche has done your chum in,
And the sergeant's done the rum in,
And there ain't no rations comin',
Carry on.

When the world is red and reeking,
And the shrapnel shells are shrieking,
And your blood is slowly leaking,
Carry on.

When the broken battered trenches,
Are like the bloody butchers' benches,
And the air is thick with stenches,
Carry on.

Carry on,
Though your pals are pale and wan,
And the hope of life is gone,
Carry on.
For to do more than you can,
Is to be a British man,
Not a rotten 'also ran,'
Carry on..

'Woodbine Willy' (World War I soldier who wrote poetry about life in the trenches)

[canisdoofus.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how little the Ardennais landscape has changed in 90 years! I visited Verdun and what was then known during the war as "No Man's Land" this summer, and many of the trenches are still there. (The Significant Other is all about World War I") The Cathedral of St. Etienne in Metz, France is still being cleaned from the layer of soot caused by excessive shelling.

I apologize for the blurriness of this picture (the weather was eerily HORRIBLE), but you could still see the deep pits blown out of the ground by German artillery. battlefields of Verdun. (http://picasaweb.google.com/SybilWolf/Europe2007/photo#5130561154481701298)

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

I have a rellie (one I know about anyway) William James Boyd, who died at the battle of the Somme. He was from Belfast.

Here's a little trivia for you. The first shot fired by the USA against Germans in WWI was fired where?

[anathelen.livejournal.com]

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


I went to K-12 in the US and had never head of that poem or Remembrance Day until I stumbled across it on Wikipedia one day in college.

[phonixa.livejournal.com]

I had a great uncle who fought in WW2 as a pilot. He won some sort of medal, my dad has it. It was a part of my history I didn't really know about until I brought the medal to school and found out it was the second highest honor you could get in Canada.

I think this is it:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/cmdp/mainmenu/group01/dcm


But the king is uncrowned in ours, and we've lost the ribbon.

Well, found him in the canadian database. Odd that he's the only Fedoruk who died in the war from Canada, since its a pretty common Ukrainian name.

William Fedoruk, Flight Lieutenant W.Op./Air Gnr. Died November 26, 1944. Does anyone know what the "W.op" means? I get the Air general part.

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the W.Op. part, but the Air Gnr more likely means Air Gunner. Almost all the search results on W. Op results in enlisted men, like Sargents, so I'd assume it has something to do with Warrant Officers.

First Shots

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

That is an interesting question. Where was it? I was thinking it might have been against a submarine off the North American coast or against spies in Mexico, but I really do not know.

Re: First Shots

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Apra Harbor, Guam. The German vessel "Cormoran" was fired on by an American battery, whereupon the German commander ordered the vessel scuttled. The crew (minus 13 who died in the scuttling) went ashore becoming the first POWs taken by Americans. They were eventually transported to Ft. Douglas near Salt Lake City in Utah where many spent the duration of the war. Some married local girls and remained in the USA.

Various of the Marianas islands were German-held before the turn of the 20th century so there were many German nationals there (including my grandmother and her family). Germany also held some land in the pacific, including Tsingtao, China where my great-uncle Hermann served some time in the German Army.