Remembrance Sunday

Discussion in 'The Lounge Bar' started by Ron Goldstein, Oct 24, 2010.

  1. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Going right off thread for a moment, but, if I don't mention something then it will just drive me mad.

    As I posted the item about trying to buy a poppy in Southgate and my flabber being gasted at the response of the M&S Security chap, I was being bugged by a sense of deja vu and the thought that this had happened to me before.

    I did a bit of scouting around and found this piece I had written elsewhere on this forum about my WW2 fellow Driver/Op, Lew (Larry) Fox.

    I don't usually comment on one of my own postings but I feel that had the BBC site still been open, I would certainly have made my feelings known there.

    This morning I was round at my friend Lew Fox's house, where I was paying my weekly visit to help him brush up his computer skills.

    He had a particular problem on his computer that needed a solution from the company that had sold him the system and I found myself chatting on the phone with a computer expert.

    We went into a mode that allowed the expert to operate Lew's computer by remote control and he was interested to see that Lew's screen saver showed Lew visiting a cemetery.

    I pointed out that the photo displayed was Lew re-visiting the CWGC Cemetery at Cassino and mentioned that he and I had served in the same unit.

    The conversation then went something like this:

    Expert: Where did you say that was?
    Ron: Cassino
    Expert: Where's that?
    Ron: May I ask how old you are?
    Expert: Thirty-nine
    Ron: Are you seriously telling me that you've never heard of Cassino?
    Expert: No, where is it
    Ron: Italy.... and tell me, did you not have any relatives who served in WW2?
    Expert: Yes, one in the Navy and one in the RAF, but they have both since passed away.

    I got the expert to promise me that he would look up "Cassino" on GOOGLE after he had put the computer problem to rights and Lew and I simply stared at each other.

    Please tell me that some people have heard of Cassino, or am I asking too much


    Am I asking too much that I expected the M&S chap to have heard of poppy sellers ?

    Confused from Cockfosters
     
  2. robian

    robian Junior Member

    As always, I shall attend the service at The Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede.
    hi peter
    can you give me any details regarding remembrance day service at runnymede ie. who is running it, start time etc As I will take my mum whose brother is comemmorated there We have never been before. It is very special this year as we discovered his crashed halifax had been located in belgium. can you let me know details by email robertifraser (at) hotmail.com
    many thanks
     
  3. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Soldiers to march 1,000 miles for Remembrance Day

    BBC News - Welsh soldiers' Poppy Appeal speed march from Cardiff

    A team of Welsh soldiers set off from Cardiff later on a gruelling speed march to London, as they raise cash for this years Poppy Appeal.


    The five members of 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh will join colleagues from the other armed forces at Wootton Bassett, before continuing the march.
    They will also deliver a book of remembrance to the Royal Albert Hall on Remembrance Day.
    The March for Honour teams will cover 1,000 miles over the next eight days.
    I bought one of the wristbands in my local Tesco garage today also avaliable here, March for Honour - The March For Honour Peter, I cant get you link to work :huh:
     
  4. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Success at last !!!!!!!

    Managed to get these in the Brent area of London this morning.

    I can now safely retire the tatty ones that have been holding the fort for the past twenty years :)

    Ron
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    hi peter
    can you give me any details regarding remembrance day service at runnymede ie. who is running it, start time etc As I will take my mum whose brother is comemmorated there We have never been before. It is very special this year as we discovered his crashed halifax had been located in belgium. can you let me know details by email robertifraser (at) hotmail.com
    many thanks


    Hi Robian.

    The ceremony at Runnymede starts at 10:45 but I would get there a little earlier as parking will be at a premium, the car park that services the memorial is used by the RAF cadets on parade that day so a field is used which is at the rear of the car park.

    Contact details can be found on this link

    http://www.runnymede.gov.uk/portal/site/runnymede/menuitem.f102b891047ca0d878b83d10af8ca028/
     
  6. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Am I asking too much that I expected the M&S chap to have heard of poppy sellers ?

    Confused from Cockfosters

    My boys are wearing their Poppies to Primary school.
    My older one has told me that 2 days running now class mates have asked him why is he wearing it.
    Fair play to his teacher , he's wearing one but don't parents even tell their kids what Poppies are for at this time of year.

    Narked of Pighill.
     
  7. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Owen

    Tell your son that this old git in London is very impressed with his actions and sends him his very best regards !

    Ron
     
  8. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    My boys are wearing their Poppies to Primary school.
    My older one has told me that 2 days running now class mates have asked him why is he wearing it.
    Fair play to his teacher , he's wearing one but don't parents even tell their kids what Poppies are for at this time of year.

    Narked of Pighill.
    Day before yesterday my Daughters, Primary School were selling them in the school.
     
  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    'Remembrance' is a national curriculum topic, being done by my 6 year-old at the moment, and the 9 year-old does a smattering at this time of year alongside their WW2 topic.

    Poppies all over; went into the youngest's class the other day and they were making wreaths. Oldest went in dressed as an evacuee on Wednesday for a WW2 related trip, & his classroom is currently wreathed in camo netting with bits of WW2 related tat collected from parents scattered about (gave 'em some Helmets and a Panzer tracklink... didn't dare ask if they wanted a Bren Gun). I'm going on a trip to the war memorial with the smallies in a week or two.
    No shortage of coverage there - but I kind of assume no matter what they're taught at school, some of 'em will still go 'wha?' when asked about it in ten years time.
    There's no accounting for thickos...

    WWI Education Resources for Teachers
     
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  10. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    It's not just that. I had to advise a bloke at work today (24 year old) start and end dates of WW1 and WW2! He's not a dumb bloke, one of the bosses, but there seems to be something of a history gap that appears to be a a function of education policy for a whole generation or more. I will avoid the 'lefty policy' debate and let the facts stand for themselves.
    Thankfully this seems to be better covered in the current Curriculum.

    Mike
     
  11. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Thanks for the heads up on the date Ron,

    I was thinking of going along this year, I might go to the Victorian embankment and be near the Chindit memorial, where I think the Old Comrades Association hold a small ceremony in honour of Wingate's men.

    As a slightly younger man I think it is time to show support on these occasions.

    Wish you well on these two important weekends.

    Steve.
    Steve, PM sent.
     
  12. AndyBaldEagle

    AndyBaldEagle Very Senior Member

    All
    I have been following this thread with interest. For the last two years I have attended the ceremonies on Remembrance Sunday, both times with one of my daughters, despite the fact that both TFL and the Train people must come to an agreement to make the travel as difficult as possible. On the actual day, 11th November, I just tell my boss, I've never asked him! that I am going up to Whitehall (handy as I work in East London) to pay my respects, and honour my Great Uncle (killed in the First War on the Somme in September 1916). He has never said a word against it, this week, however I have a training presentation to do at 2pm so might be tight for time, but they can wait!
    As for going into London for the Sunday, its now a no no as I live over 70 miles away. so I will be finding out whats happening locally and pay my respects there.

    Regards

    andy
     
  13. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Andy

    My best friend and I usually head over to Veterans Wing at Sunnybrook Hospital here in Toronto. Over the last few years, many Veterans of the Afghanistan conflict are usually in attendance. It is a marvelous sight...to see the young and old Veterans in the same area.
    As Pete Keane said...." it is hard not to get emotional "
    Aye

    Randy
     
  14. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

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  15. Paul Pariso

    Paul Pariso Very Senior Member

    My son has been picked by his Army Cadet Unit to lay a wreath at our local monument on Sunday. He has just been out to get his haircut and is currently sitting in the front room with a soaking wet beret on his head because he said it needed reshaping (the beret that is, not his head! :lol:)
     
  16. martin14

    martin14 Senior Member

    Milan, Italy, for the 17 Canadians ( and the others of course ) buried in the Milan War Cemetery.
     
  17. -tmm-

    -tmm- Senior Member

    I'll be visiting the memorials for 381st Bomb Group USAAF and 90 Squadron RAF at Ridgewell, with others who help run the museum there. No service or anything, just to pay our respects and then off to the pub to raise a glass in honour of the fine young men and women to whom we owe so much.
     
  18. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    As already stated on another thread I shall be at the Cenotaph this Sunday, marching with the AJEX contingent.

    For those who will watch it on BBC 1, look out for a white bearded old git with a 4th Hussars badge in his beret :)

    Hoping, for all our sakes, that it stays dry.

    Ron
     
  19. kingarthur

    kingarthur Well-Known Member

    I shall be laying a wreath at my grandfathers grave at Allhallows in Kent, accompanied by his other grandchildren and great grandchildren, this will be then followed by a Pint and a whiskey chaser at the village pub in his name.
     
  20. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    I will be at the CWGC on Heerstrasse in Berlin, laying a wreath on behalf of the RBL, followed by a church service and wreath laying at St Georges Church nearby.

    Prior to the Cemetery service a friend and I are laying an RAF wreath at the grave of a 19 year old airgunner by the name of Sheridan.

    The deceased had cousin, a 4th Recce veteran who served with my late father and is still alive although suffering from illness.

    So this makes it a special time personally.

    Regards
    Tom
     

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