Lest We Forget

[newbryford]

(Mods - please feel free to place in a more appropriate section if so required)

 

As I will be at a model railway exhibition on a certain special date in November, I have purchased suitable adornments for a couple of locos.

https://fox-transfers.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=poppy

 

Lest We Forget.

 

Mick

(No connection to Fox, other than as a satisfied customer)

[Andy Y]

Likewise; a couple on their way to Tackeroo.

[mwrosebury2000]

Yeah I bought some of these and I am more than happy with them, I think it's a really good idea to support such a good cause.

 

Mark

[Alex TM]

Hi everyone,

 

On the 11th November I'll be leading an Act of Remembrance.  It's actually the most challenging duty of my entire year as so many attend, each with their own understandings and expectations.  Every year there are fewer of the older veterans, yet there are increasing numbers of younger adults present.  They, sadly, are the newest generation to bear the fears and grief of having friends and family in 'uniform'.  Each year we hope for the day when November 11th will be no more than history; sadly, we fear that day will be a long way off.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[The Johnster]

I was incredibly lucky to have been born in the UK in 1952, one of the very few times and places in the entire history of the human race that guaranteed that I never had to fight in a war.  I have always been aware of this, and the debt that I owe to those that did, and paid not only the ultimate price but often, if they did not pay this, returned wounded and maimed physically, mentally, and spiritually.  

 

My father, who survived the Second World War, was a Merchant Navy officer, so I turn up each Remembrance Day at the memorial in Cardiff Bay; I just think I should, so I do.  It never fails to move me to tears.  

[Alex TM]

Hi again,

 

It doesn't seem to be that commonly known, but the Sunday following Remembrance Day is the annual 'Service for Seafarers' where we are called to remember those merchant sailors who lost their lives at sea during times of conflict and peace.  Working in a port area it's something that is still relevant to us.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[chris p bacon]

My father, who survived the Second World War, was a Merchant Navy officer, so I turn up each Remembrance Day at the memorial in Cardiff Bay; I just think I should, so I do.  It never fails to move me to tears.  

 

 

Same here, (he was a PoW for 4 years or more specifically a 'Captive of the Kriegsmarine') When I was growing up (born in 62) I played trumpet in a Scout band that would lead the procession on Remembrance Day, my Father never attended and I used to think it odd. As time went on I found that he had spent time in a French (vichy) concentration camp and had endured untold hardships and so just wanted to forget, he was 12+ stone when captured and just 7 stone when repatriated.

It was only in the last month of his life that he would speak about it.  There was a picture of Karl Donitz on TV and he said he'd spoken to him, Dad could speak some German so had been put forward on a camp inspection. Donitz asked how they were and Dad said 'Hungry', Donitz said they would all like more food to which Dad replied "you look better fed than us"

Lady Bacon is now president of our RBL branch.

[ikks]

My dad was with the BEF in 1939 in France and I think Belgium{it was very difficult to get him to talk, but mum opened up a tiny bit more), he got away from Dunkirk, only to end up in Singapore and was there when it fell to the Japanese in 1942. He again escaped and ended up in Sri Lanka, most of his comrades however were captured and ended up on the Burma Railway. He and mum tried to find the graves of those who had perished on that infamous line in Changi Cemetery with little success........ he was quite devastated, the staff there being less than helpful. On November 11th. 1984 dad presented a banner from the Derby British Legion to the Malvern branch in Melbourne Australia of the Returned Services League (RSL), he was so proud and I was a blubbering jelly!! I, Johnster was born in 1946 and like you have never experienced war( thank God....and I am an Atheist but do not know how else to put it!!) but I will never be able to thank enough, those men and women who served to give us the life we live today. We whinge and moan about life today and yes, some of is shite but compared to our forefathers it ain't all bad.

 

Mike

[The Johnster]

Well put, Mike. You must be immensely proud of your father's service.  I, too, am an Atheist, and one of the factors in the decision to become one (I was a believer in my youth) was reading and hearing of the experiences of those who had suffered so terribly in the war, of all sides and backgrounds.  My father often commented that he never regarded the Germans or their allies as his enemies, only the Nazis and the militarist cabal in Japan, and I have tried to maintain that stance in his honour.  

[ikks]

Yes I am, he was a wonderful dad to my two sisters and myself. I totally agree with your sentiments, the ordinary( and I hate that term because none of us are)Germans,Italians,Japanese were not our real enemies...........just the bas=tards that controlled them. I ended up working for a German company for the last 17 years of my employed life until retirement, they were the most generous,caring and helpful firm I have ever experienced. 

 

Mike

Edited October 19, 2018 by ikks

[SM42]

I shall be at work again this year on 11 November

 

As last year we will stand in silence for 2 minutes at 11am. Even the phones stopped ringing for 2 minutes last year, surely no coincidence

 

It wasn't the best of environments to remember those who gave all, but it was very moving all the same.

 

Andy

[newbryford]

Excellent service from Fox.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I shall be at work again this year on 11 November

 

As last year we will stand in silence for 2 minutes at 11am. Even the phones stopped ringing for 2 minutes last year, surely no coincidence

 

It wasn't the best of environments to remember those who gave all, but it was very moving all the same...

Early in my working life I made such a comment to an old soldier, and his reply was "They were at work son, and for most of them not the job they would have chosen to be doing". That has stayed with me: it doesn't matter where you are, it is the proper remembrance that matters above all else.

[Andy Y]

As I will be at a model railway exhibition on a certain special date in November, I have purchased suitable adornments for a couple of locos.

https://fox-transfers.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=poppy

 

Lest We Forget.

 

A nice little product.

 

[Barry O]

First Bus Leeds have added poppy vinyls on the front of their buses. Not sure I have ever seen them before but a very good adornment.

 

My late father didn't attend remembrance day occasions as he didn't want to remember what happened to him and colleagues during World War 2. 

 

Baz

[t-b-g]

That weekend I will be at Hull show, on the EMGS stand. My small contribute will be to have not one but two models of the GCR war memorial loco "Valour" on show. Sadly unfinished but I will show them with pride and great respect.

 

Dad saw active service in Korea, one Grandad was very busy in WW2 with the Merchant Navy and like others of my generation, any military service I might have given would have been as a willing volunteer. That is all thanks to those who fought for the freedoms we have now.

[brianusa]

First Bus Leeds have added poppy vinyls on the front of their buses. Not sure I have ever seen them before but a very good adornment.

 

My late father didn't attend remembrance day occasions as he didn't want to remember what happened to him and colleagues during World War 2. 

 

Baz

Quite understandable! What will happen when the 100th anniversary of the Armistice is over in a few days time? Will we start all over again with WW2?

 

Brian.

[Dungrange]

Same here, (he was a PoW for 4 years or more specifically a 'Captive of the Kriegsmarine') When I was growing up (born in 62) I played trumpet in a Scout band that would lead the procession on Remembrance Day, my Father never attended and I used to think it odd. As time went on I found that he had spent time in a French (vichy) concentration camp and had endured untold hardships and so just wanted to forget, he was 12+ stone when captured and just 7 stone when repatriated.

It was only in the last month of his life that he would speak about it.  There was a picture of Karl Donitz on TV and he said he'd spoken to him, Dad could speak some German so had been put forward on a camp inspection. Donitz asked how they were and Dad said 'Hungry', Donitz said they would all like more food to which Dad replied "you look better fed than us"

Lady Bacon is now president of our RBL branch.

 

Sadly, I think your father, and many like him, are the ones who are increasingly forgotten.  As a child of the 1970s, with parents born during the second world war, these stories are more remote from my life, as my parents escaped the need to do national service let alone fight for their country.  I guess you could say I'm the second generation to have escaped the horrors of war.  However, there are many war memorials that list the names and often ages of all of those who died from the area; many were just teenagers or young men.  It's therefore relatively easy to remember that a large number of people died during both conflicts.  Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh has a series of little crosses at the moment in advance of Armistice and my six-year-old daughter asked the other day if that was the number of people who died (ie one cross per person).  In addition, many men may have been physically injured and therefore their sacrifice is more obvious.

 

However, what people tend to forget is the psychological scars that the majority of those who survived had to bear.  They are viewed as 'lucky' in that they didn't have to lay down their lives or lose a limb, but although they returned to their homeland, many weren't the same men as had left our shores at the start of the war.  Sadly there isn't a list of all those who were scarred by their experiences and therefore they are only remembered through stories like your own, but I'll guess that for everyone who died or was physically injured, there is at least one man who was psychologically scarred by their experiences on the front line and spent the remainder of their lives trying to forget the horrors they saw or were subjected to.

[GreenGiraffe22]

My grandparents, who are all still around aged 91,86,84,83 and for that I am eternally greatful, were all children during the Second World War. But amongst my files of family history paperwork, I have a letter to one of my Great Grandfathers from the King of Norway thanking him for his effort in the liberation of Norway.

 

I have about 15 or so very extended cousins buried in France from WW1 (I have researched my family tree so extensively that is has over 6000 people on it) , I would like to visit their graves one day. They were mostly all aged around 17-21, it's always very hard hitting when I find those sorts of death records.

[Unicorn1]

First Bus Leeds have added poppy vinyls on the front of their buses. Not sure I have ever seen them before but a very good adornment.

 

My late father didn't attend remembrance day occasions as he didn't want to remember what happened to him and colleagues during World War 2. 

 

Baz

Baz, my father served in the Pioneer Corps for the duration of WW2, and he too never attended remembrance day occasions for much the same reason. There must have been many veterans who felt the same.

Dad died in 2004 at the age of 95, and, perhaps rather strangely, I miss him most on Remembrance Sunday.

Les

[Foo]

Brilliant service from fox. Ordered yesterday and delivered today.

 

Treated myself to etched name plates too

[Ceptic]

Inscription reads :-

 

"Departure of 7th. Hants, 9/ 8/ 14 .....4A"

 

 

Pictured at Bournemouth West station.

 

Lest We Forget.

[Northmoor]

I have just finished reading the biography of Harry Patch - The Last Fighting Tommy - and would highly recommend it.  Only a small part of the book is about WW1 but there are many parts which show how it shaped the rest of his life in the West Country; a remarkable man although he was in so many ways, unremarkable.  He also didn't attend Remembrance Day ceremonies as he didn't like the atmosphere at many of them, finding ceremonies bordering on celebrations.

 

I recently obtained my Grandfather's hand-written memoirs of his time as an Engineer in WW2.  He had never spoken about his experiences until the 1980s when he decided to write it down to get it off his chest.  I read them cover-to-cover in a few days as a teenager and it certainly caused me to reconsider the possibility of joining the military; ironically I spent the first 20 years of my career in the defence industry (and once or twice, actually contributed something useful).

[t-b-g]

A few years ago, some of us went to one of the model railway shows held in Utrecht and as we had a few hours to fill before our ferry home, we visited Arnhem, where a distant relative of mine fought and was seriously injured.

 

Walking around the area was very moving, especially the building used as an HQ at Oosterbeek, which is now a museum.

 

Perhaps the thing that hit home hardest was a simple message attached to a bench near the HQ building.

 

 

When you walk through the woods that still fill the area between the building and the river, the ones they escaped through at the end of the battle, you are sharing the company of around 70 soldiers who died there and have never been found.

Edited November 1, 2018 by t-b-g

[jcm@gwr]

Excellent service from Fox.

 

poppy.jpg

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

I agree, I ordered mine on Wed evening, arrived Sat morning, very impressed with that!

 

But, not so impressed with the sticker/label from Virgin, how on earth can they have the

copyright to the use of the poppy, or some words that have been used in a similar way

for years to commemorate this event? (bl@@dy money grabbing lawyers!)