Topic 'Athletes who served in the military' in forum 'Canadian Chat' - dslreports.com http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Athletes-who-served-in-the-military-27671850 en Sun, 19 May 2013 07:43:21 EDT Sun, 19 May 2013 07:43:21 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27720567
They call it 'Remembrance Day', but I am sure most of our vets would like a day, just one day, when they can wake and spend the whole damn day, not just 2 minutes, and completely forget that which they hope joe citizen never manages to forget.

I have never actually been forcibly exposed to the horrors of war (thank you fate). But sadly (I think sadly describes it for me), I have spent basically the last 35 years studying the history of the last 4000 years years including Canadian history in addition to the history of my regiment, and it is a very heavy weight.

I regret not getting my dad to get his experiences of the steam era on paper before he passed, but I never had the guts to ask grampa to talk about his time in France.

They went, they died for us or came back home badly scarred inside, and we don't really really really need to know the details. It is enough to say, you better never forget, because that is the best way to ensure your kids might get to know first hand.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27720567 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:39:08 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27720555 15th Battalion CEF who suffered horrible losses at 2nd Ypres in 1915.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27720555 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:33:43 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27719313 morning. During a talk about MP pensions a man phoned in to talk
about his sister. She took a bullet in her back in Afghanistan...she will
never walk again. The Government of Canada sent her $26,000.
He was in tears....EXTREMELY moving moment. I got the feeling Bill
Good didn't know whether to cry or scream.

The very next call was a younger man who said he had been in an
industrial accident that damaged a finger. He said I didn't lose it it
just doesn't work well anymore. He said his point was the government
of BC gave him $26,000.

The MPs should be ashamed of themselves!

FaxCap]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27719313 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:11:29 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27718176
 
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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27718176 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 21:44:03 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27718027 said by Robert:

I chatted with a Global news correspondent on Twitter this past August, as he went over with a handful of veterans. They are dying , and they are dying fast.

When I was a kid any time there was a Remembrance Day service you would have a large group of WW2 veterans as part of it, all on their feet standing at full attention. When my wife, son and I went down to Mather Arch for the service in Fort Erie today, there were four or five of them. They were all well advanced in age, but they still did their damn best to stand to their feet and salute as best as their age would allow them. Now, it's the Korean veterans who look like the WW2 vets of my childhood.

To say they are dying fast is an understatement. My Grandfather is 90, and he was 17 when the war started. There's fewer and fewer every year.

I really need to get my Grandfather to record his memories of WW2. He *really* doesn't like talking about it, but I should see if I can convince him to talk to a camera or dictate his stories with the promise that I won't let anyone see/hear either until he decides, or until he is gone. It was interesting today hearing the Mayor of Fort Erie talking about his father during WW2, who was a bomber pilot who was shot down and burnt at one point during the war but survived to fly again. Identical situation to my Grandfather. Only difference is that the mayor's dad flew Lancasters, my Grandfather flew Halifaxes. My Grandmother built Lancasters during the war though, and she always boasted proudly about just how awesome those machines were.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27718027 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:35:39 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27717945
It has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and deeply affects me to this day. Nothing, and I mean nothing comes close to reliving the experience as walking on the same beach, seeing the same cliffs, and hearing the stories from the veterans as they plant their feet on the rocks; some for the first time since the raid. I will never forget that experience, nor the emotions that came with it. In particular, the parades through Dieppe and the surrounding villages; the clapping and cheering for the Canadian veterans was so genuine from young and old alike. It is probably the closest one could ever feel what the veterans felt when they liberated Europe.

I have an album full of photos, however I really should digitize them.

I chatted with a Global news correspondent on Twitter this past August, as he went over with a handful of veterans. They are dying , and they are dying fast.

As a result of this experience, I get cold shivers to this day with the playing of the Last Post. To this day, I well up with pride for the veterans when they parade on November 11th. On the 19th of August I will visit a cenotaph and say a little prayer. I have the pin of our pilgrimage tattooed on my leg. In 5 years, my goal is to go to the 100th anniversary of Vimy with my son, and we will go visit Dieppe, so that I may pass along the stories that were told to me 15 years ago.
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It's one thing to listen to an idiot talk. As soon as you respond, there are now 2 idiots having a conversation.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27717945 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:07:48 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716556
Forgot to mention the other side of the family. My great uncle joined the army ahead of the war and was trained to repair weapons so he didn't participate in active combat but contributed nonetheless.

One more thing. Both my grandfathers volunteered and were rejected. One due to hearing loss in one ear and the other due to flat feet!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716556 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 09:32:58 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716476 said by Kardinal:

That clip tries denote how serious that vehicle damage is when you stand right next to it, but the gravity of it isn't the same as being there and looking at it. When you stand there, you can't help but think "Holy ****, peacekeeping really is a serious business where our Canadian Forces put their lives on the line to protect others".

I heard John T. tell the story of his first sight of the Iltis after he recovered. It took him about an hour of just sitting there in the vehicle to come to terms with how close he came to dying.

BTW, the Iltis was cleaned up and stripped. All the kit is gone and any blood was removed.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716476 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:41:04 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716107 --
"Pro amicis mortui amicis vivimus" (We live in the hearts of friends for whom we died)
the inscription on the Memorial in the Canadian War Cemetery at Groesbeek, the Netherlands]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716107 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:22:33 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716013

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGIr8SQv9zI


You can read the story here.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27716013 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:37:16 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27715495
My Grandmother passed away last month. At the funeral there was a letter she had she had written during the war and recently translated. At the end she included some foot notes marked with *. Since we're sharing stories I thought you guys might find this "day in a life" account interesting:

Preamble
------------------
A few years ago, my brother-in-law Piet Kos mailed me this letter, which I had written to him, my sister Riek and their daughter Marjan, during what was known as "the hunger winter".

It was written on March 21, 1945 and about six weeks later, we were liberated on May 5, 1945.

Within a couple of days, Riek and Piet, with Marjan in a basket, bicycled from North Holland to Dordrecht. As soon as they arrived, a pedal broke off Piet's bike.

==============================================

Dordrecht, 21-3-45



Dear R, P and M.



Congratulations to all three of you with Marjan's birthday. I'll try and mail a parcel for her. I hope it works and that it won't get stolen. Possible thieves should figure out that there will be no food in a parcel that's sent from Dordrecht to H.H.Waard*. I'm writing this in pencil, on transparent papier on which you cannot write in ink. It is legible, isn't it? Lately, I've been getting letters from Greet, she writes me faithfully, long stories. Very nice.

Dad discovered yesterday that we have enough potatoes for 10 to 12 days in the box, that is, if we eat 2 kg each day. Now I took charge and lowered the daily ration to 1 kg. We also have a basket with 7 1/2 kg (traded for tobacco), so we'll be able to eat 1 kg potatoes daily for a month. I'll mash them with the beet pulp, and along with some greens, it should be fine. I don't know if Mother keeps you informed of our food situation. Possibly she paints a rosier picture so as not to worry you. Well, you don't need to. We are still alive and as long as there are sugarbeets, we have something to eat. So never mind!



Yesterday I made a pan of soup with 2 cups of peas, 2 shredded potatoes, a couple of onions, for the rest shredded sugarbeets and a couple of red cabbage stalks. The largest pan was totally filled. This morning for breakfast we had two soup plates full of that stuff, again tomorrow morning and possibly enough for Friday morning.



I have to go to the central kitchen soon (the soup will be thin again) then we'll each get a soup plate + a few spoonfuls more and this evening Mom gets her 150 gr** of potato and the other 850 gr is mashed with the shredded, boiled beets. Then we'll eat till we drop (you soon feel full when eating beets, it is such hard to digest food). And if there is any, we'll each have a slice of bread. And that's our menu. Dad is going into the garden for the vegetable production, he sowed spinach yesterday.



There is quite a bit of rumbling across the road again***. I'm writing this sitting on the doorsill of the open patio doors, in the sun.



Monday Mom got three little "whole wheat pancakes with bacon" from our next-door neighbour. They were very small pancakes ("three-in-the-pan"), with a tiny piece of bacon in the centre. How is it possible! Nice of her. "Only for your wife, I cannot afford to give more", she said to Father. But mother took 1 1/2 and we we each got 1/2 and tasted bacon once more.



Sister Ge got 2 lbs bacon and 3 lbs ham for two tablecloths (or 3 lbs ham and 2 lbs bacon, not sure). Such luck.



That trading for my bicycle tires did not go through, that was too bad, otherwise we would have received a mud (75 lbs) of potatoes, for an inner and an outer tube in perfect condition. That would have been enough for 50 days (1 1/2 kg per day). We hope to find someone else, but that's not likely. Anyway, as I said before, as long as we have sugarbeets, we have something to eat. Every day we have quite a bit of water from cooking the beets, so we don't need to shred beets to make syrup. Sometimes there is so much water, we have a hard time using it up.****



Yesterday Joop de Vries was here again*****, he expects the Tommies (British troops) any time. On Sunday the Tommies came across the river to Kop van 't Land. The German soldiers immediately flew over there with cars, then the Tommies retreated. "They were so scared of us, they went back immediatley", claimed a German soldier. But it was only a reconnoitring patrol.



When giving you our menu, I forgot to tell that from now on I'll also make a waterpudding on Sundays, that's pretty good, really!



The right side of the back garden has been spaded, I'll rake the ground finer, then we can sow radishes and some spinach before the tobacco is sown******. Pop would have given all our perennials away to a neighbour, but I stopped him, we would not have any plants left.



Just now Willy Busink came to get me to go to the central kitchen; 10:45, and they don't start until 12. I'm not crazy, why not go stand there at 10:30? Yesterday I had gone to town and sister Jans went close to 12, and she only had to line up for 5 minutes, so she said. But when you go that late, the first delivery is gone and sometimes it takes an hour before the second load comes. She was lucky yesterday that the second load came so quickly. You could say "Then go much later", but then there is a chance that everything is gone and then you have to go to the Beverwijck Square and you get cabbage soup!



I stop, have to clean beets again. Fortunately, Jans scrubbed them yesterday, that makes a difference.



Yesterday I went to a show of Jan Wingen, paintings, fl. 800.-, fl.1000.-, fl.1250.-. etc. The cheapest was fl. 480.- and that was the nicest, I thought (was sold already). When I was there, a man bought one for fl. 800.-. He counted out the bills, real handy. Yesterday I got a money order from Ge, fl. 10.-, great. Bye! Bep.



The beets are clean, the soup is gone and I'll write a bit more.The soup was thin, but surprisingly there were pieces of carrot in it!



Those paintings of Jan Wingen were very nice. He works a lot with blue-grey in all sorts of shades and uses mostly pastels. The man is 70 already! He got rid of his painting firm (he was ornamental painter in Limburg, castles etc.) and went into artistic painting. It is quite amazing; lately there were paintings from him in the Kofa gallery, I counted 17 done in 1944. I was going to write something else, but forgot what it was, it wasn't a lie!



Oh, yes, did you also get that bread (1 1/2) and that margarine (125 g) from Sweden? Now we'll get 1/2 loaf from the International Red Cross, maybe next week. And for Friday we'll have to hand in a coupon for a package from the Swedish Red Cross. The contents they'll let us know later. Of course everyone knows what will be in it, you hear the craziest things: "Small children, under 4 years old, get sardines", a lady at the kitchen told us in all earnest. Wouldn't that be great. I'm stopping again. Goodbye, until we see each other again (when?) Bep.



Such kitchen talk. You could keep this letter as a memento of the food shortage in Holland in 1945. Too bad it is written in pencil. Maybe it is faded before you receive it. Let me know if you could read it. Put it on something white that would be the best way to read it. B.

=================================================================

* The little village where they were hiding from the German army. All young men were picked up and taken to work camps in Germany, starting with men who had been in the Dutch army, my brother-in-law was.



** My mother was diabetic and had to weigh what she ate, that's how I knew it was 150 gr.



*** There was a field across the road of our house where the Germans had anti-aircraft, which they shot off whenever they saw something in the sky. The Allied planes flew across Holland to Germany, and were quite high.



**** There wasn't any fuel either, and gas was only on for a little while each day and it took a very long time to boil beetwater down to syrup, which we used on the little bread we had, there was very little or no butter.



***** a schoolmate, he always walked to school with me, lived quite a bit closer to school than I. He waited at his house until I came by and since I was usually late, we always had to run. He was in the underground.



******Seeds were scarce too, but we were able to sow greens, and my father managed to get some tobacco seed. He grew, dried and cut tobacco, used some in his own pipe, but traded most of it for food. Tobacco was a popular item, here was none in the stores at all.



Farmers grew a lot of sugarbeets, which were used to produce sugar, but since the factories could not run anymore and food was scarce, they sold or traded the beets. I believe they were used to feed farm animals too. They were the shape of parsnips, fairly large, hard to clean and shred. It took less time to cook them when they were shredded.



The kitchen where we got the soup, was not really a kitchen, it was a bath house. The soup came from a central kitchen somewhere else. All the food was rationed, we got a certain number of coupons per person, had to hand in coupons (and money) for that soup too.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27715495 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:14:22 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27715485 said by <"href="http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2011/11/11/we-remember">Barrie Examiner :

Two minutes of silence was broken by the heartfelt sobbing of Marcie Lane, the wife of the late Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli of Sault Ste. Marie, who was killed in Afghanistan March 20, 2009.

As Barrie's Silver Cross Mother, Lane cried on the arm of Barrie police Const. Peter Moore, Vernelli's now three-year-old daughter watched them solemnly from under her warm white hat, the kind with two mouse ears poking out the top.

As Lane wept, we were reminded that we are not just remembering ghosts of men who died long ago, but real neighbours, friends and yes, fathers of precocious daughters who'll grow up without their fathers who died in a far away land.

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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27715485 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:09:06 EDT Maison des Canadiens marks D-Day heroism http://www.dslreports.com/forum/-Maison-des-Canadiens-marks-DDay-heroism-27715291
»www.vancouversun.com/Maison+Cana···ory.html

[att=1]
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~
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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/-Maison-des-Canadiens-marks-DDay-heroism-27715291 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:59:33 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714781
I said I would ask, and to give me a week or two to see if I could swing it.

"We are out in three days. Got some temporary space?.

"Done," I said.

I cleared it with the church office and the counsellor was using our building by the end of the week.

I took the proposal to the church council the following week. There was no question. The program would be welcome for as long as necessary and, of course, there would be no charge.

We have the counsellor using our meeting room (comfy chairs and sofas and quiet) and have recently added a monthly peer support group meeting. It has been a success for everyone.

We get nothing but the thanks of the veterans and their families. It's our privilege to be a small part of their life.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714781 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:07:41 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714756 said by Sukunai:

Young man, when you signed on the dotted line, you were in the military every bit as much as I was in so long ago. You put your life at risk by signing on and offering to let the government control it. That nothing bad resulted, is not my fault.

Damn right. Remember that.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714756 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:56:29 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714751 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714751 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:53:32 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714742 rant is excellent this week. "Clearly, we've forgotten."
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27714742 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:47:31 EDT Athletes who served in the military http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Athletes-who-served-in-the-military-27713437 www.cbc.ca/sports/moresports/pho···?cmp=rss
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Athletes-who-served-in-the-military-27713437 Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:45:57 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27705661
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Lest we forget
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2007
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27705661 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 22:08:22 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27705411
Young man, when you signed on the dotted line, you were in the military every bit as much as I was in so long ago. You put your life at risk by signing on and offering to let the government control it. That nothing bad resulted, is not my fault.

I thanked him for his words and politely excused myself so I didn't end up crying in front of him. Partly I felt genuinely chewed out, but partly he gave me something back, I had thrown away a long time ago.

Every day is Remembrance Day for me though. I just cry a lot more on the 11th of November thinking of our fallen, people that will never grow old now.

I won't make this political, because that would be wrong, but, I DO wish we would take our people out of Astan. That shit hole is worth nothing, and certainly it is not worth our brave people that are falling for nothing over there. And yes, I AM an expert on the region and it's long history.

And please remember all of our people that didn't come home in boxes, they came home alive, but in too many cases, they were greatly hurt in their minds and their souls. No one is helping these persons. And too many of them are dying AFTER they get home by their own hands because they were not healed properly.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27705411 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:46:31 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27701920 said by Kardinal:

I was a funeral recently, for a neighbour of my family when I was growing up, and this man was like an extra grandpa to all the kids on the block. He always liked having 'help' and was patient with the millions of questions little boys ask men working on cars or trying to fix something.

As a child, and even as an adult, I had no idea that he had survived 40 missions as a B-25 Mitchell pilot, and then worked as a test pilot for the RCAF until an injury while bailing out ended his career (this injury gave him a permanent limp that wasn't even solved by an eventual hip replacement).

How ironic I was listening to the Radio about how our vets (despite rhetoric from the PM and Defense Minister) are treated or more accurately mistreated regarding funerals. For example not eligible for the $3600 (which doesnt even cover 1/3 of funerals these days), if they make over $12,000. There is more but its too disheartening to think about it. All to say the govt is willing to spend tens of millions on war of 1812 festivities instead of taking care of our vets properly, nevermind ignoring the 30yr anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins".
Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"

LlamaWorks Equipment]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27701920 Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:48:53 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27700661 Sack Lunches :

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time...

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base.' His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is your thanks.'

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars. Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my
side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm. When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'citizens of Canada ' for an amount of 'up to and
including my life.' That is Honour, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27700661 Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:49:00 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697388
»www.cbc.ca/strombo/social-issues···e&s=home
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697388 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:57:41 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697381 --
~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697381 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:56:10 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697355
»www.lfpress.com/2012/11/05/man-a···s-wendys]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27697355 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:47:51 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27695027
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-Bob]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27694904 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:50:32 EDT The origin and history of Remembrance Day http://www.dslreports.com/forum/The-origin-and-history-of-Remembrance-Day-27692465 www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/···day.html
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/The-origin-and-history-of-Remembrance-Day-27692465 Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:25:09 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27677603
The battle had raged for over two hours, with neither side gaining any advantage. Wave after wave of soldiers had been dispatched from the muddy trenches and sent over the top. So many had died already that day that he decided he could not afford to lose any more men before reinforcements arrived. Perhaps they'd give the remnants a few more days of life. There came a slight lull in the battle due to the sheer exhaustion of the men on both sides.

During this interval, a young soldier came up to him requesting that he be allowed to go over the top. He looked at the boy who couldn't have been more than nineteen. Was this extreme bravery in the face of the enemy or was the soldier so scared he just needed to get it over with?

"Why would you want to throw your life away soldier? It's almost certain death to go out there."

"My best friend went out over an hour ago, captain, and he hasn't come back. I know my friend must be hurt and calling for me. I must go to him, sir, I must." There were tears in the boy's eyes . It was as if this were the most important thing in the world to him."

"Soldier, I'm sorry, but your friend is probably dead. What purpose would it serve to let you sacrifice your life too?"

"At least I'd know I'd tried, sir, he'd do the same thing in my shoes. I know he would."

He was about to order the boy back to the ranks, but the impact of his words softened his heart. He remembered the awful pain he'd felt himself when his brother had died. He'd never had the chance to say goodbye.

"All right soldier, you can go." Despite the horror all around them, he saw a radiant smile on the boy's face, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"God bless you, sir," said the soldier.

It was a long time before the guns fell silent for the last time and each side was allowed to gather their dead and wounded. The captain remembered the young soldier. He looked through the many piles of bodies. Young men. So many as to give an unreal quality to the scene before him.

When he came to the makeshift hospital, he looked carefully through the casualties. He soon found himself before the prone body of the soldier, alive, but severely wounded. He knelt down beside the young man and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, son. I knew I was wrong to let you go."

"Oh no, sir. I'm glad you did and I'm glad you're here now so I can thank you. You see sir, I found my friend. He was badly wounded, but I was able to comfort him at the end. As I held him dying in my arms, he looked me in the eyes and said: "I knew you'd come."

The young soldier faded between consciousness and oblivion for some time before he finally slipped away. The captain stayed by his side until the end, tears streaming quietly down his cheeks. Only in war could the happy endings be so terribly sad.

As the bugle sounded "Taps", the old captain envisioned once again the young soldier's face. Looking up, he could almost hear the stone monument calling out to him: "I knew you'd come."
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27677603 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:26:33 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27677602 --
~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27677602 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:26:01 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27675453
One of the Canadian soldiers from part of the occupying force helped my grandparents and some of their relatives and their two sons emigrate to Canada. My grandparents never wanted their sons to have to suffer through the same thing they did (my grandfather was in the German cavalry during the war and lost a leg), and were worried about conscription (Germany had conscription from 1956 until 2011) being reinstated.
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Developer: Tomato/MLPPP, Linux/MLPPP, etc »fixppp.org]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27675453 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:18:37 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27673851
Blake]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27673851 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:37:52 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672675

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kX_3y3u···ure=plcp
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672675 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:30:20 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672653 said by ZZZZZZZ:

You're lucky to get the chance to share things with him.

I am. He is a man of a different generation who experienced things us here only see on TV. He doesn't like to talk about the war, though he did open up a bit after he encountered some people at a Tim Hortons in St. Catharines who were from the village in Germany where he was hid in a barn by a family after crashing. Despite this, what I do know hasn't so much been from him as it has been from my uncle.

I did go through his box of stuff when I got him veteran license plates a few years ago for his birthday. His service records, photos from the war, etc. Not only did he have his own stuff, but also stuff from his father - my great-grandfather. Not only did he have all his service records from WW1, but also had a copy of his birth certificate from the turn of the century. Going through all that stuff was a very surreal experience.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672653 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:25:57 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672606
My mother's father was lost at sea when she was very young and my other grandfather died when I was a teen,so I have only a few memories of him.
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672606 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:11:05 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672470
As a child, and even as an adult, I had no idea that he had survived 40 missions as a B-25 Mitchell pilot, and then worked as a test pilot for the RCAF until an injury while bailing out ended his career (this injury gave him a permanent limp that wasn't even solved by an eventual hip replacement).
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"Pro amicis mortui amicis vivimus" (We live in the hearts of friends for whom we died)
- inscription on the Memorial in the Canadian War Cemetery at Groesbeek, the Netherlands]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672470 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:31:31 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672428 said by Gone:

My Grandfather was shot down three times over Germany during WW2 when he was with the RAF and is still here to this day after over 90 years on this Earth.

I hope you spent, or spend, lots of time extracting first hand accounts of his experiences from the war.

My mother was in the RCAF and I spent a lot of time as a child at the local legion but was not in a position to appreciate the stories I overheard. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672428 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:21:20 EDT Re: Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672285 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Remembrance-Daystories-27672285 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:43:22 EDT Remembrance Day...........stories http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Remembrance-Daystories-27671850 stories or pictures you have to honor the vets. :)

This one is pretty cool. :p

»www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/···ncouver)
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~~Go Lions....back to back Cups!!~~
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Remembrance-Daystories-27671850 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:05:50 EDT