2 Minutes Silence

[phoebejo]

so just before 11 I turned my radio on, Ken Bruce played John dunbar's theme from Dances with Wolves and that was it, my eyes started to leak and I had to start finding a tissue fast before I flooded my desk.......... boy was I glad when the silence was over.......

Note to self - get the tissues out before the silence starts next time.

Same here, listened to that too but I was driving. Tis not good to be crying and driving at the same time

[Spins4me]

I was walking the dogs on my own so put the alarm on my phone to remind me and stood for two mins in the park.

 

My grandfather was in a mounted regiment in World War I. His horse was killed under him and he was wounded and lay in No Man's Land for 3 days sheltered by his dead horse. He was never the same again mentally and used to wake up screaming and bang his head against the wall.

[yena]

I did it on Sunday and again today. Dad did 2 marches with the Standard. Very smart he looked too.

 

The main march was Sunday then today he marched again. 77 year old bloke carrying the Standard in the wind and rain. I am proud of my Dad.

 

I will try to find the pics of the last 2 years as they were posted on here.

 

Kazz xx

 

It's always a proud moment, my son did the parade at Ripon, he looked so smart in his no 2's with his medals. We are a very proud family that he's in the Royal Engineers

[redditchlady]

Mum rang me earlier to say she'd been nearly kicked out of Tescos for telling two eastern europeans off for talking through it - can't take that woman anywhere

 

Bless her Some people are ignorant. In my opinion they needed telling. Good on your Mum

 

 

It's always a proud moment, my son did the parade at Ripon, he looked so smart in his no 2's with his medals. We are a very proud family that he's in the Royal Engineers

 

Lovely, you should be proud of him.

 

Dad was in the Royal Engineers too. Many years ago though.

 

Kazz xx

[scotslass]

I was very disappointed

 

I work in a sheltered housing complex and I turned the communal tv on so they could watch the wreath laying etc but when it came to the silence most residents in the lounge carried on chatting through it. These are people who lived and served at least in WW2.

 

That doesn't surprise me at all. War was part of these people's lives - they don't sentimentalise it, as some of us do. Who knows what reason some of them may have for wanting to forget it ever happened?

 

My father was a commando who fought in Italy and Africa in the second world war; he was wounded, and lucky to survive when many of his young friends didn't. Yes, he marched with his old comrades at the annual remembrance services, but he had no illusions about it all. There were reasons for the war, but most old soldiers didn't talk about it, or consider what they did to be heroic. They were conscripted and dispatched, and if they were lucky, they came home.

 

Remembrance Day should be a wake-up call. It isn't about pride - the first world war was a disgraceful waste of lives, and nothing to be proud of. While we choke back our tears at the sight of the few old men who survive (and I did too), men, women and children are still dying every day in wars that we are helping to wage. Why don't we weep for them?

 

I wonder why Remembrance Day is becoming more "popular", for want of a better word? It wasn't always thus. Very few people would turn up for local church services, for example, in the fifties and sixties. Is it perhaps due to the increase in television programmes about the wars? I watched last night as two teenagers followed in their geat great grandfather's footsteps (I think) and listened to them marvel at what he had to endure. But what is the point of such programmes, unless it's to underline the fact that those poor men suffered needlessly and that their deaths might have been avoided if governments hadn't regarded them as mere cannon fodder?

 

My father always said that he didn't need Remembrance Day to remind him of Billy, his best friend. Billy was 19 when he died, a few yards away from my father.

[scotslass]

Mum rang me earlier to say she'd been nearly kicked out of Tescos for telling two eastern europeans off for talking through it - can't take that woman anywhere

 

Sorry, I'm obviously in a bolshie mood today, but what has "eastern European" got to do with it?

 

Even if they were eastern European, their own families wouldn't exactly have got off lightly during the last war, I'd have thought. Maybe they were just young or didn't understand? I've lived in a different country (apart from England, I mean!) and it's odd to see what other people celebrate.

 

The 2 minute silence is not universal or compulsory, after all.

[Spins4me]

I wonder why Remembrance Day is becoming more "popular", for want of a better word?

 

I wonder if it's because it affects fewer people directly now and there is an attempt by the powers that be popularise it so that it doesn't reduce so drastically in numbers that it loses its significance? There's no conscription now, the armed forces are fewer in number so eventually there will be fewer people marching in the Remembrance Day Parade. Will this make the parade a bit sparse and therefore look less relevant? Each year a new group marches eg evacuees and I understand that children and grandchildren of those who have fought for their country are now able to join in the parade wearing their relatives medals. I don't think that this a bad thing at all but has it been encouraged so as to "make up numbers"?

[khanu]

I don't need remembrance day to remember my friends and family who will never come home again, I think about them everyday, and I don't need it know to remember my friends and family who are still far from home fighting, I think of them everyday too.

 

However I parade every year to show publicly my support of troops past and present. To show that I do remember and respect what they do and did.

 

There is no doubt that the first world war in particular was a shambles, what is important to remember though is that men joined up voluntarily or otherwise (so many youngsters lied about their age), when they knew it was unlikely they would come home. It is important to remember that even though they know that "going over the top" would mean they were likely to be killed they did it anyway. Personally I want to remember that bravery, and give my thanks for it, and remember what the price of freedom really is, for those alive and dead, and to remember that if I am not prepared to fight for my freedom then perhaps I don't deserve it at all.

Edited November 12, 2008 by khanu

[ranirottie]

I missed it as Kathy W and I were talking on the phone and I was a bit sad that I had not done it but Kathy wisely said that it doesn't matter when you do it as long as you mean it. So I did it later. I do think its important that we remember the people who fought for us and all the people who died in the wars including all the innocent civvies. War is a terrible thing to happen to anyone in any country. x

[scotslass]

, what is important to remember though is that men joined up voluntarily or otherwise (so many youngsters lied about their age), when they knew it was unlikely they would come home. It is important to remember that even though they know that "going over the top" would mean they were likely to be killed they did it anyway. Personally I want to remember that bravery

 

Sorry for chopping your post, but I wanted to add that my dad joined up at 17 - not because he thought it likely that he'd be killed, nor because he was particularly brave (though he was heroic to me ) but because it seemed like an adventure.

 

At 17, you are invincible. My father and his friends were manipulated by propaganda, simple as that. They had no real choice anyway, so joining up early seemed as good a move as any, for lads who had few career options back then.

 

The true horror of war is something that politicians - not teenage boys - understand, and that is precisely why it makes me sad that they're still encouraging youngsters to risk their lives for dubious causes.

[sparkle]

I observed it on Sunday and Tuesday, I have always done so and always will, I stand there and say a silent thank you to all those who have served/are serving in the British armed forces and also a prayer for the safety of those currently serving

[Laurel n Hardy]

we had 2 minutes silence here, approx 900 people work in this office

and it was very quiet for that time

 

We must never forget