QUiDam DeMenTia, I totally agree with you. I think we human have the ability to rise to great heights and solve our problems without aggression. We're not there yet, and the nature of human society is still filled with conflict. But I truly believe we can rise above this.
As a Canadian veteran of 2 peacekeeping efforts, I've put myself on the line many many times. I de-mined in Southern Lebanon and faced hostile forces in the Sinai desert.
Each November 11, many memories come flooding back. Both the horrific scenes no one should have burned into their brains and souls, and the wonderful happenings I love that I was able to participate in.
As a Canadian veteran of 2 peacekeeping efforts, I've put myself on the line many many times. I de-mined in Southern Lebanon and faced hostile forces in the Sinai desert.
Each November 11, many memories come flooding back. Both the horrific scenes no one should have burned into their brains and souls, and the wonderful happenings I love that I was able to participate in.
Remembrance Day
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
- John Stuart Mill
"Let someone else get killed!" "Suppose everyone on our side felt that way?" "Well then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?" "Englishmen are dying for England, American's are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many countries can't all be worth dying for?" "Anything worth living for," said Nately, "is worth dying for." "And anything worth dying for," "answered the old man, "is certainly worth living for."
- Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Lest we forget!
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.
-- John McCrae
Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote this poem on May 3, 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before. (info. on John McCrae from Wikipedia)
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.
-- John McCrae
Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote this poem on May 3, 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before. (info. on John McCrae from Wikipedia)
Maj Mark D. Taylor
82nd Airborne "ALL THE WAY"
www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/oif/profiles/taylormarkd.html
"To the Taylor family. I served with LTC Taylor on the 782nd FST in Falluja, as one of the Nurses. Mark was my friend, a mentor, a talented leader, and an wonderful Physician. He was never ill tempered, and always had something to say or do even in the darkest times to keep everyone going. Words cannot express the loss of Doc Taylor. Please know that the soldiers he served with loved, respected, and admired him. The people whose lives he touched are better for it, and he will never be forgotten. Mark thank you for being you, we all miss you Hollywood."
CPT Michael Fisher of Ft. Sam Houston, TX
As part of the build-up to Remembrance Day, the veterans and cadets were out in force in Colchester town centre on Saturday and parked on the High Street was a WWII army ambulance:
Seeing these things seems to make the events more solid somehow, a physical link to past conflicts. I know we shouldn't concentrate on purely the two world wars since many lives have been lost in other wars right up to current time, but for me it's the two world wars that come to mind when I think of the people who gave their lives.
Seeing these things seems to make the events more solid somehow, a physical link to past conflicts. I know we shouldn't concentrate on purely the two world wars since many lives have been lost in other wars right up to current time, but for me it's the two world wars that come to mind when I think of the people who gave their lives.
I thanked a veteran and two of my friends enlisted this month.
The military recognition for a fallen soldier. Helmet, Gun, Boots. The flowers were a nice touch. This photo was taken at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA the day before Veterans Day.
Veterans Day, 2007. These are symbolic tombstones of US military deaths, artistically placed on the lawn of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA.
The military recognition for a fallen soldier. Helmet, Gun, Boots. The flowers were a nice touch. This photo was taken at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA the day before Veterans Day.
Veterans Day, 2007. These are symbolic tombstones of US military deaths, artistically placed on the lawn of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA.
