A salute to Veterans Day (Remembrance Day in Canada)

[glarius]

I'm watching the Remembrance Day Ceremonies in Ottawa, Canada, which are just ending. Every time I see the faces of these aging veterans on Remembrance Day (your Veteran's Day), I am reminded of a fact of why I exist. This story has been passed down through the generations in my family.
During the 1st World War, in one of the European cities where Canadians fought the Germans, my relative, who was very young; came around a corner where he was suddenly confronted by a German soldier. (The German could have shot first.) Here is what is amazing....they both stopped, looked at each other and gestured in some way to each other that neither would shoot. (Perhaps they were tired of all the killing). They passed each other by peacefully, and as a consequence I am alive today!
Looking at the lovely, lived-in faces of the old veterans taking part in the Ceremonies at the War Memorial in our capital city I am very moved.
As it all ends, the people attending the Ceremonies are removing the poppies they have been wearing on their lapels and placing them on the memorial.

P.S...Sorry, but for some reason my starting of new paragraphs does not happen in this forum.

[glarius]

1. I'm surprised nobody has commented on the point I am making.

What I intended to point out is the futility of war. Those who fight in them (like my relative and the German soldier) are sometimes the first to recognize this fact.:shrug:

[Downwinder]

2. I salute Remembrance Day (Armistice Day) but not Veterans Day.

Lets give peace a chance. i served but I can't and won't glorify war. War is terrorism -- violence to obtain a political end.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. War is futile

Period.

[biermeister]

4. In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders' Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[glarius]

5. That is so beautifullly written. n/t

[Downwinder]

6. WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

words and music by Pete Seeger
performed by Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?