Remembrance Sunday

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

  1. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    I am in regular correspondence with Footslogger (AKA Ray Sinclair) and only yesterday received his report on the local 2011 Remembrance Day.

    I thought that some of you might like to read this excerpt from his letter and also see his current photo:

    I attended the Rememberance Day Parade we had on Sunday in Pickering . To me it was not the appropriate day, as it should be held on Nov.11. but the powers that be in Pickering decided on the Sunday because it would not hold up traffic and and therefore reduce "Road Rage" I complained about it but it did no use. I was told that is why they hold the Santa Claus\ parade on a weekend. I replied but this is a different parade and reason.

    Anyway the parade went off very well , a very good turnout, I laid a wreath on behalf of our group, and the weather was perfect, temperature about 16c,


    Ron
     

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  2. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Lovely picture Ron. Thanks for posting.

    Lesley
     
  3. eddie chandler

    eddie chandler Senior Member

  4. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    I'll be at the Remembrance Ceremony at AAC HQ Middle Wallop. It'll be my first time at this event.

    Steve W.
     
  5. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Good turnout in Leicester and at the Village service today.
    Nothing much else to report really, except perhaps:
    Interest declining? I don't believe so.
    And aren't the non-uniformed veterans marching getting much younger all of a sudden...
     
  6. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Along with many others I attended the National Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph on Sunday 13th November.

    I marched with the AJEX contingent, some 30 odd men & women, left home at 07:30 am and got back home, very weary, at 13:30.

    A beautiful day and a fine ceremony other than for one nutter who violated the two minute's silence by shouting out "no more war! "

    There's always one !!!!!!

    Ron
     

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  7. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    I attended the ceremony at the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede a fine day and a good turn out, I might be wrong but it seems to me that there are more people each year.

    I also went to the Memorial on Friday at 11am, about 40 made the effort.
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  8. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    I'll be at the Remembrance Ceremony at AAC HQ Middle Wallop. It'll be my first time at this event.

    Steve W.

    Last year, there were so many people squeezed into the small chapel that the decision was made for all of this year's ceremony to be held outside by the memorial. It was an excellent event made special by the ' a capella' singing of the hymns, which rather put me in mind of a field service. Padre was 'bang on' with an address based on his experiences in Afghanistan.


    Steve W.
     
  9. footslogger478

    footslogger478 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    To all concerned: I am so pleased that there are still some of us still able to attend the Rememberance Day Parades, but as Tom mentioned we are becoming fewer.
    I went on Nov 8 to a special Veterans Get Togther evening hosted by The City of Pickering in Ontario where I live.
    I did not know until I arrived that I was to be. along with the representatives from the Korean War and Afghanistan, the WWll Veteran representative for our group, and that I had to give a speech.

    With much trepidation I managed to do that without any notes and to my surprise received a standing ovation after I had finished. I was told what I said moved many people for which I was happy because what I said came from the heart.

    I would like to say to all the Veterans that happen to read this Blog, THANK YOU, for being my comrades who ever you are. and where ever you were during that conflict.
    The fact that we can still keep in touch and voice our opinions means a great deal to me. GOD BLESS you all
     
  10. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Ray -
    Well done that there man - or as they say here - "you dun guud "- still
    able to think on your feet I see - we were at times close in sunny Italy - even when it rained !
    Cheers
     
  11. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Some pics from Swindon I took today.
    The chaps in DPM are Royal Yeomanry.
    The wreath in last pic is my old lot , 1 Wessex. Doesn't exist anymore.
    Quite a few ex-Gurhkas on parade.
    The wives watched them march, nice splash of colour, wish I'd got a pic.
     

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  12. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Attended the ceremony in Hackney. A bit of a crowd, and as others observed, some youngish vets, and some families where you wonder whether the mother or father died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Good weather, and one senior army brass represented (he lost one of his spurs - rather undignified attempt to get it back on).

    The parade was a nice one, with a good turnout by the cadets of all services.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  13. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Back on Sunday's parade and whilst I think about it.

    The Gurkhas were very well represented and drew much applause both from the crowds and the other marchers.

    When the Parade was being assembled on Horseguards Parade Ground I spotted this Gurkha piper entertaining his fellow marchers and took a quick snap.
     

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  14. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I see Jenson & Lewis had their poppies on during the post-race press interviews yesterday.
     

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  15. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Ray had this to say the other day:
    To all concerned: I am so pleased that there are still some of us still able to attend the Rememberance Day Parades, but as Tom mentioned we are becoming fewer.
    I went on Nov 8 to a special Veterans Get Togther evening hosted by The City of Pickering in Ontario where I live.
    I did not know until I arrived that I was to be. along with the representatives from the Korean War and Afghanistan, the WWll Veteran representative for our group, and that I had to give a speech.

    With much trepidation I managed to do that without any notes and to my surprise received a standing ovation after I had finished. I was told what I said moved many people for which I was happy because what I said came from the heart.

    I would like to say to all the Veterans that happen to read this Blog, THANK YOU, for being my comrades who ever you are. and where ever you were during that conflict.
    The fact that we can still keep in touch and voice our opinions means a great deal to me. GOD BLESS you
    In my postbag, this from Ray (AKA Footslogger478)

    I thought the forum might now like to see this snap of the event

    Ron
     

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  16. footslogger478

    footslogger478 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    In Canada we hold our major Remembrance Day Parade on Nov 11 though in various municipalities the day varies. In Pickering Ont. where I live the major parade is held on the Sunday before. However there is a small service on November 11 at our Cenotaph which I attend because it has more meaning to me.
    One of the (strange) reasons given to me why it is held on the Sunday is that there is no great interuption of traffic as there would be observing the Two Minute Silence which could lead to, can you believe this? Road Rage !! That is why, I was told, the Santa Claus Parade is held on the weekend. How can this be compared to Remembrance Day?
     
  17. Lofty1

    Lofty1 Senior Member

    Sorry to be a little late on parade with these, a couple of shots of the Remembrance parade in Colchester, the service, and the Jeeps we provide to allow the veterans who are unable to walk to be part of the parade,
    I am on duty at Mile End war memorial, so added a shot of two little girls learning about remembrance, nice.
    regards lofty
     

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  18. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    As I stood in silence at the Cenotaph last Sunday I heard someone desecrate (my words) the silence by shouting out "No more war".

    I reported this in my report to this forum and expected to read more about the incident in the press the next day but found nothing.

    Today, a friend drew my attention to this item on the internet in "Indymedia London" .
    Indymedia London | Articles | Show | Shout!
    I print it now without comment.
    Shout!

    [​IMG] [​IMG] Published: November 16, 2011 11:16 by Michael Dickinson | Share
    Tagged as: anti-militarism
    Neighbourhoods:
    An account of my arrest for shouting "NO MORE WAR!" during the 2 minute silence at the cenotaph war memorial on Remembrance Sunday.
    SHOUT!

    Michael Dickinson

    Last Thursday, carrying a coffee back to my tent in Parliament Square in London after my morning visit to the public toilets in Green Park for ablutions, I noticed a line of metal fences along the pavement around Westminster Abbey, and a large crowd of mostly aged people in various kinds of military attire congregating in the grounds where thousands of small wooden crosses bearing names and red paper poppies had been planted in the mown lawn, a Field of Remembrance to commemorate those who died fighting in wars for their country. I learned from one of the numerous luminous-lemon-jacketed policemen that the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was about to arrive to lay a cross of his own. Deciding to wait among the smallish crowd of mostly curious camera-weilding tourists to witness the event, I noticed a strange curved shape among the plywood Poppy Factory crosses a young Chinese woman was selling from a tray at the gate, and she showed it to me. It was in the shape of a Muslim crescent, minus poppy. She also showed me other shapes - one in a Jewish star, one like an hourglass for Sikhs, and one like a lollipop stick for 'No Faith'.

    Police started to move people away from the Abbey so I went over the road to Parliament Square where I got a good view of the arrival of the Duke in his insignia-crested Rolls and his greeting of the clerics and dignitaries. Then it was the two minute silence to remember the war dead. Traffic came to a halt and the air was pregnant with silence. Suddenly a trembling indignation came over me. I felt that silence was an inappropriate way to commemorate those gassed, maimed, crippled, killed, and driven mad by armed conflict, both in the past and today. Instead I felt like shouting "No More War!" at the top of my voice. But I didn't. I was afraid that I might swiftly find myself in police custody on a charge of 'breach of the peace'. The silence ended, the chatting began again and the traffic resumed its incessant roar. I had missed my chance. Disappointed at my funk, I went back to my tent and finished my coffee in a pensive mood. I still had another chance. The official Day of Armistice was on the morrow, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 2011, and the 2 minute silence would begin at 11am at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

    Next morning as the hour approached I walked along the Victoria Embankment next to the Thames, and came into Whitehall from the direction of Trafalgar Square. I couldn't have cut it finer. There was quite a crowd standing to attention around the cenotaph memorial and the last post was being sounded by a bugler prior to Big Ben's striking of the eleventh hour signalling the beginning of the 2 minute silence. I got as near as I could and stopped about twenty yards from a quartet of lemon jacketed policemen. One of them stared at me intently as though he knew I was going to do something. Looking behind me I saw a group of uniformed soldiers standing to attention. Running away would be useless. I decided to play it cool. The bell gonged eleven times and the silence began. I counted ten slowly and then opened my mouth and shouted at the top of my voice in the direction of the cenotaph.

    "NO MORE WAR!"

    Several heads in the crowd turned. I shouted again.

    "NO MORE WAR!"

    I wanted to say it three times, but I was suddenly approached swiftly by the policemen.

    "You are entitled to your opinion," said one, "But this is not the time or place."

    I turned and walked away past the soldiers and up towards Trafalgar Square, free, feeling quite proud of myself. No newspaper reported the incident.

    On Sunday morning I was awoken by a dog sniffing outside my tent. I looked out and found it was on a lead held by a young policewoman who explained that they were doing a security check in the area before the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Another one? But this was the special one, to be attended by Her Majesty and the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and Military Dignities. I thanked her for the information and she went on her way with the sniffing white labrador (named Sunny). "So," I asked myself, as I sat on the kerb of the fenced-off lawn watching the crowds in civilian and army dress arriving for the ceremony, all with poppies pinned to their breasts, while a policeman crawled inside my tent and rummaged for bombs, "Are you going to do the shout again?" Definitely! (I had just been reading about the sale of arms to Israel by UK warmongerers.) And this time I would shout three times. But where? There was a lot of people around. I'd be safe doing it in St James' Park but felt the sound not might reach the cenotaph. I went for a walk along the Embankment parallel to Whitehall but there were too many police vans parked along it. I decided to go back to Parliament Square.

    Big Ben was just striking when I reached my tent. People were already standing to attention in the traffickless street. The last gong sounded. I counted slowly up to ten and then raised my hands to the sides of my mouth and cupped them.

    "NO MORE WAR!" I bellowed three times, with a brief pause in between. Then I crawled into my tent and lay down. It was dead quiet for a while, and then a policewoman peered into the opening. She said there had been a complaint, and could I explain my action. I said that I had been speaking for those killed in armed conflict, and that God had told me to do it. Another couple of policemen arrived and they told me to come out. I did so and was tightly handcuffed behind my back and escorted across the road into the grounds of the Houses of Parliament where we waited for thirty minutes behind the black bars of the gate for a police van to arrive. A passing politician coming in from the ceremony glared at me and snorted "Disrespect for the dead!"

    "It wasn't disrespect!" I replied indignantly, unheeded.

    The van arrived and I was bundled into the little cell cage at the back. The two plastic seats had recently been washed and were still wet, and I perched precariously on the edge of one as we wheeled through the streets across town to Marylebone Police Station. There the handcuffs were removed and I was also relieved of my shoes and trousers (both having strings for tying which could be used for hanging myself). Instead they gave me a pair of long johns and canvas slip-on shoes to wear, and after having the inside of my mouth swabbed for a DNA sample, my fingerprints and mugshots taken, I was shown to a cell. A policewoman gave me a cup of tea and a chicken supreme and rice packed lunch that she had heated in a microwave oven. After I'd eaten I lay and waited for the arrival of a lawyer from Biden's Solicitors, who help people arrested in political demonstrations.

    When she arrived we talked in the room before the taped interview to be conducted by detectives. She advised me to say "No Comment" to most questions when asked, but I found this difficult and generally replied honestly and straightforwardly to what was put. The officers said that I might be charged with a Public Order crime or for demonstrating without permission. They withdrew for discussion and I was returned to my cell. When they let me out an hour or so later I was informed that I was being charged with 'use of threatening, abusive or insulting words/disorderly within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby CONTRARY TO SECTION 5 (1) AND (6) OF THE PUBLIC ORDER ACT 1986.

    I am due to appear in Westminster Magistrates Court at 181 Marylebone Road on 23rd of November at 10 am. In the meantime, on condition of bail I must sign in every day at a police station in Charing Cross in case I fail to surrender to custody. However, I have decided to attend the hearing on the prescribed day and I will stick to the answer I gave the police when they read me the charge. "In my opinion I was not threatening, abusive or insulting."

    It is we, the people, who are under threat from the military machine.

    "NO MORE WAR!"
     
  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Hello Ron,


    Would he understand that it is Remembrance.

    The action of remembering.
    The action of remembering the dead, esp. in a ceremony.

    Remembering all those who gave their lives be they Military or Civilian.

    Remembering that their lives were not lost without future hope.


    Would he understand that no woman or man wants war.

    Would he understand that it is not the glorification of war.

    I think his own scribble below was lost on him.

    "A policewoman gave me a cup of tea and a chicken supreme and rice packed lunch that she had heated in a microwave oven. After I'd eaten I lay and waited for the arrival of a lawyer from Biden's Solicitors, who help people arrested in political demonstrations. "

    How civilised.

    The main thing Ron,
    We are here and will continue to be ( look at our growing membership ) as are many others out there in the ether who continue to Remember every single day.

    regards
    Clive
     
  20. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    "God told me to do it"......must be great to be so special that "God talks to one"......... and how uplifting it must be to "feel proud of myself ".
     

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