this will be GOOD!

 

    1,2,3,4,5  said  the older lady as the bus went down an English street. 1,2,3,4,5 she said again. A couple of stares , a few chuckles came from the other passengers. 1,2,3,4,5 she repeated out loud with a quiziccal look on her face , extending a finger as she went. A few more smiles , a few more laughs from the other riders.

   Please forgive her , said the man sitting next to her ,for this is my wife , and she just found out that she has lost all her sons , and we are on our way to hospital.

      There IS a reason it's called   "the lost generation "  over there.

  Useing 19th century tactics against 20th century weapons will do that . Seems like the generals were a little behind in their homework.  Sending men by the thousands across open fields right into the sights of water cooled machine guns ?  And court-marshalling those who refused ? 

 small wonder the French troops "bah-hed" like sheep when the orders to go "over the top" came down the line.

I remember Dave (I am Belgian!)

We watched All Quiets... in my English class in college. It was very eye opening. For being so low budget looking, the message gets across loud and clear.

 

  When the entire world 'fabric' is changed , how you can lump it in with Veterens day is beyond me . Gone are the days of people blindly following a king's command . Gone are the czars , the dukes ,the barons the -if you will- " ruleing class" . No more will people sing Tipperary while gleefully marching off to their deaths at the bequest of a crown.   

  Ya know ,If I were from Europe ( or anywhere ) , I might be just a tad offended at that the USA over this. To lump all of their sacrifices into one of our holidays ? somehow that just don't seem right.  It's more than just us , a lot more .

 

 

I am going to look for that Ricky S. Movie.  Thanks for the tip.  Iwent to see Platoon with a Viet Nam Vet.  He about went out of his skin during that seen where the lights are floating down and the battle rages.  He told me that was very accurate to what it was like.

 

  CP - watch it WITHOUT your little ones first. May be a little to much for them

 

 also check A/E and History channel as I think they both have it

 

                         Whats in a name ?                                   

   not much , unless it happens to be  Bertha , as in BIG BERTHA

    a 350 mm howitzer that fired a 8oo lb. shell over 10,000 yards.

   one of those on a flat car parked outside of Paris will make feel .. uneasy?

                             big toys =big noise

                                                                                                      

 

  

   

 

                                Believe it - or Don't

  Hard to believe that the assasination of a 2nd rate duke by a 3rd rate badguy started all this.

 

 

All of the above.  In the history of the US, there have been very few times where we actually responded with force when attacked.  9/11 demanded a response.  Once Afghanistan was smacked down, I think Bush decided that while he was already in the neighborhood, he might just as well visit the neighbors.  Let's not forget that this particular neighbor did try to kill his dad once.  Who knows if he really did believe there were WMDs... it was at least a convenient cover story for a while.  I think how history evenually views this war will depend greatly upon the success of the elections and new Iraqi constitution.

We were lucky to have you as a forum member today Dave.

You really went out of your way to help us remember what this day is really all about.

Thank you!

 

                        whats in a word ?

           some new ones were 'invented ' for the occasion , Doctors finnaly got around to giving it a name .You know , when Grandpa ducks at the sound of a door slamming . It was called shell shock and the military had to admit its existence. ( there were no medical records or stats kept before this war , this way the brass could pretend that wars had no effect on humans after it was over with which meant the military wasn't responsible for what happened to troops later in life.

  battle fatigue is another 'word ' the brass didn't wan't to acknowledge .  I can sit thru 24 straight hours of shelling , charge across an open field full of machine gun fire , do a little hand to hand with the guy wearing grey then go to sleep and wake up and do it all again ! NO PROBLEM THERE !

 

  Well gang , the sun is setting here now, as it did so many years ago today, in a place far from here.

 I hope that I might have done some service today to those who were, and,to those who are still there.

  David