Lest we forget

[PeeJay]

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[Johnny Thunder]

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

[Simon Bolivar]

We will remember them.

[grumpybaldy]

Exeter. 1 July 2016. 0700. First day of the Somme + 100 years. 19,240 shrouds. Most died in first 4 hours.

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Probably the most poignant thing I have ever seen. Repeated on Cathedral Green, Bristol today and there until 1800 next Friday 18th. Recommend you get there if you can.

[grumpybaldy]

The most incredibly effective manifestation of the scale of the losses. All by one man who crossed off the individual names as he finished each figure. Hats off! www.thesomme19240.co.uk

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[Johnny Thunder]

I visited The Somme battlefields and various places around the area a few years ago.
It is a beautiful area. It is hard to comprehend just what happened there.
One of the mosts sombre, yet thought provoking places I have ever visited.

[cj121]

Respect.

[mcdee]

I am most grateful and appreciative to all who have made sacrifices for our freedom and way of life. And truly thankful that both my grandfathers lived to tell the tale.

[Simon Bolivar]

I visited The Somme battlefields and various places around the area a few years ago.
It is a beautiful area. It is hard to comprehend just what happened there.
One of the mosts sombre, yet thought provoking places I have ever visited.

I am going to the French WW1 battlefields next Friday, with a couple of Belgian cigar friends. Last year we visited the Menin Gate. Hope to get as far as the Somme memorial, if not, should be pretty close. Have my last 100yr old cigar to smoke; to mark the Century.
Thiepval Memorial - Commonwealth War Graves Commission

[Johnny Thunder]

I am going to the French WW1 battlefields next Friday, with a couple of Belgian cigar friends. Last year we visited the Menin Gate. Hope to get as far as the Somme memorial, if not, should be pretty close. Have my last 100yr old cigar to smoke; to mark the Century.
Thiepval Memorial - Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Thiepval Memorial is stunning tribute to the missing souls of that battle.
That visit will always stay with me.

[Simon Bolivar]

Both my Grandfathers fought there & although both were injured during the war, they were both lucky enough to return & lived until their 70's.

[the pondering moose]

Lest we forget.

My great grandfather fought with the Northumberland Fusiliers and then the Machine Gun Corps on the Ypres salient. Physically he came back unscratched, but very damaged all the same. The vast majority of my great uncles and both grandparents served (one with the RA in the western desert and up Italy, one on Atlantic convoys). My brother is in the service now.

The thing I've always taken away from all of this was the fact that my grandfather serving in the Atlantic (with escorts flying Swordfish), actually grew to be on good letter writing terms, and subsequently visiting terms with a few who flew with Luftwaffe long range patrols, and even someone who was in U-boats. There seemed little animosity, just camaraderie of those who had been there.

That gives me some hope for the human species.

[handlebarpipe]

Great to see the England and Scotland football teams defying the ban by FIFA and wearing the Poppy on their shirts when they played at Wembley last night.
Long live Freedom and Remembrance. FIFA has been shown to be a corrupt organisation.
Marc