2 minute silence

Did you observe a 2 minute silence at 11:00 today?

  • Yes

    Votes: 73 73.0%
  • No

    Votes: 25 25.0%
  • Eh?

    Votes: 2 2.0%

  • Total voters
    100
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Unless people were taught about events such that they have a significant understanding as to what they are showing their sincere sympathies for, there is no point in just telling them to, making them to or having them do it falsely.

You've never watched the Legion service of Remembrance on television? Seen the service at the Cenotaph, also on television? Rather helpfully, the BBC includes clips & montage from those involved to inform people.

I understand your point about being taught at school, but I find it difficult to believe you have never read anything or seen a programme on TV or read/watched the news that relates to WWI or WWII, or any other conflict involving our armed forces since 1945.

I totally understand people forgetting the time, but when everyone else is observing the silence, it isn't difficult to understand why it's happening

Perhaps, again, I am in a minority. I admire your honesty in posting
 
My point re school was that as with a lot of things, I think our behaviour/attitudes/thinking on these sort of things is set at a fairly early age.

I could watch the BBC material you mention and while it would be educational, an insight and I would have due respect, I don't think it will now change me to someone that unaided, would stop of my own accord whatever I was doing to take a 2 minute silence. I might intend to even, but it wouldn't happen. I would still be better off for it though, given.
 
My maternal grandfather was at Château-Thierry and Beaulieu Wood. He came home one leg less, and suffered from the mustard the rest of his days. He lasted until '63.
"Reasons" for the War, or for an American having done that aside, I shall always remember.
 
Of course like most others I salute and respect our fallen forebears in previous conflicts, but of course I also have another personal 'Remembrance', as I lived in a Country long forgotten and of course served myself in the once renowned 'BSAP'.

Please note that I am NOT making a political statement, (and will not rise to same) so I wish none in return, it is just part of my own 'Remembrance' - Thank you.

This was sent to me:

In remembrance
Tribute to the Rhodesian Soldier
Ross Dix Peek

Call me biased but I think the greatest fighting-man to ever walk the face of the earth was the Rhodesian Soldier. Intelligent, rugged, doggedly-determined and virtually invincible, the Rhodesian fighting-man was a warrior second-to-none, a "Zeus" among mere mortals.

Heir to a fine fighting lineage, the Rhodesian Warrior was forged in the crucible of War. He had shown his raw-courage and great prowess during the Matabele and Shona Rebellions' of 1893 and 1896; in the "mud, guts and blood" of World War One (1914-1918); during the great cataclysm that was the Second Great War (1939-1945), and in the rain-soaked jungles of Malaya (1950s), where death lurked in every shadow.

But the Rhodesian fighting-man's "finest hour" was the vicious war fought in his own country, from 1972 to 1980; a war in which many Rhodesians', both black and white, would sadly succumb. Always outnumbered, short of essential equipment, and the world's "scapegoat", the Rhodesian warrior's ingenuity, enterprise and daring was truly wonderful to behold; both on the ground and in the air.

Bronzed and ready, with the ubiquitous "FN"-Rifle ever-present, and invariably clad in a camouflage cap, "T-shirt", "Shorts" and "Tekkies", the Rhodesian was the quintessential "bush-fighter". Surrounded on all sides by opportunistic enemies, the Rhodesians' (ever-alert and always aware of their country's vulnerability) would often venture forth into Mozambique or Zambia, intent on pre-emptive action; their small mobile-columns' creating havoc and mayhem, leaving behind a battered and bloodied enemy.

In addition, whenever the need should arise, they could always beseech the great African-sky, wherefrom their winged-brothers, the indefatigable Rhodesian Air-Force (RhAF), would unleash yet more carnage upon a bewildered enemy.

Ah, the units - The "Rhodesian SAS", the "Selous Scouts", "The Rhodesian Light Infantry", The "Rhodesian African Rifles", The "Rhodesia Regiment", "Grey's Scouts" and the "Rhodesian Air Force", truly a pantheon of greats. And let us not forget the father of Rhodesian arms, the British South Africa Police (BSAP), and those redoubtable Rhodesian women, pretty-as-hell, and tough-as-teak!

Then there were the leaders. Men such as Rhodesia's prime-minister, Ian Smith, Africa's "Nostradamus"; General Peter Walls, the Rhodesian Commander-in-Chief and a veritable "Hercules" in Uniform; Major- General John Hickman, that fine old soldier, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ron Reid-Daly, the founder of the fearsome "Selous Scouts", a fighting-man if ever there was one.

But of course, the most exalted of all Rhodesian Warriors are those men and women, many mere boys and girls, who sacrificed their precious lives for Rhodesia and the Rhodesians -"Lest we forget". And now, although just a memory, the Rhodesian "Troopie", the very personification of courage, grit and determination, that fighting "denizen" of the African Bush, still lives on forever in the hearts of those of us who still proudly call ourselves "Rhodesians".

A toast to the Rhodesian Fighting-man; the very best of the best.
 
My point re school was that as with a lot of things, I think our behaviour/attitudes/thinking on these sort of things is set at a fairly early age.

I could watch the BBC material you mention and while it would be educational, an insight and I would have due respect, I don't think it will now change me to someone that unaided, would stop of my own accord whatever I was doing to take a 2 minute silence. I might intend to even, but it wouldn't happen. I would still be better off for it though, given.

can i recommend a trip to the battle fields of northern France?

when the weather is good it is actually beautiful countryside and you can drive there after breakfast and be there for a late lunch (from the southeast).

its not all doom and gloom the battlefields themselves are after all just fields, but the memorials and cemetaries are incredibly moving. there are museums and book shops a plenty all staffed by informative english speakers. You can take in British and commonwealth gravesites and German too, from both the great war and the second.

when you've just about had your fill of imagining the mud and the slaughter, find a bar and raise a glass and just remind yourself that the world would not be the same place if they had not fought for their country. To a man they would be proud of the freedoms we all enjoy and the peace in which we make our lives.

it would take a weekend and cost you a few hundred quid but you'd come back richer I swear.
 
Anybody remember the TV series "War Walks"? I'm just re-reading the books on the train at the moment. Very good.
 

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