Comments

Thanks Cathy for that. We commemorate 11 November as Remembrance Day in Britain. Today is the 90th anniversary of the ending of world war one.

I was looking for war casualty figures in both World Wars. It seems 12 MILLION people died in world war one and 57 MILLION people died in world war two.

We think we have problems today … because of a financial crisis that means people can’t perhaps have a third family car or the 8th television in the house or the new computer or the holiday aboard. Relatively speaking we live in clover and cotton wool in 2008.

WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THEM.

I posted something about this on my own Blog today and it always gives me shivers when I think of the sacrifices made all round in the name of freedom.

Posted by Trevor Gay at November 11, 2008 11:17 AM

Hi
(happy birthday Mr. Tom Peters)

For the great war I suggest this GREAT SITE

http://greatwar.nl/

for a warless world and a great peace

Jamshid

Posted by Jamshid at November 11, 2008 12:19 PM

Well said, Trevor. Sometimes on this side of the pond we forget that the Great War raged for three years before we were involved. Too many on both sides of the war lost their lives, under conditions we couldn't imagine. A tip of a pint to you and yours on Rememberance Day.

Posted by Bruce at November 11, 2008 12:24 PM

Cheers to you as well Bruce – have a virtual pint on me my friend!

This day is not just about Britain. Many people all over the world perished. I am so proud of the efforts made by my late beloved Dad and Grandad and their peers which allows me today to enjoy my freedom. My gratitude to all the military worldwide continues - we owe them much and they give literally everything - for questionable reasons - right up to this very day.

Posted by Trevor Gay at November 11, 2008 12:38 PM

Thank you for this post from a Limey! We now only have 4 surviving veterans from the Great War. We must never forget any of those who fall in the service of their country - an all too familiar new item on both sides of the Atlantic these days.

Posted by Carlo Navato at November 11, 2008 1:26 PM

Today, in my small English market town, the two minute silence at 11 a.m was the most dignified and moving for many years.

I can't help thinking that the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have made everyone more aware of the sacrifices made over the years by so many from so many countries.

On a personal note, I have always wondered how my great uncle died at the age of 18 having served both in the Army and the Royal Flying Corps (the predecessor of the Royal Air Force). This year I discovered from his regiment's archives that he lied about his age when he joined up in 1915.

He was 14 years 5 months!

Posted by Stuart Jones at November 11, 2008 1:49 PM

Cathy...

Thank you for adding a link to The Australian on this post...

The new nation-state of the Commonwealth of Australia reportedly lost 60,000 men from a population of around 5 million in WWI. An horrific loss of life by any measure. Added to that toll was the incredible suffering endured by the wounded, maimed, and psychologically scarred survivors.

What is a modern young Australian to make of all this sacrifice? I had thought as the years rolled by, and with no surviving veterans from that conflict in our country to remind us of what it all meant, that young Australians might lose interest in these events.

That is not the case. There is a heightened interest in our community at large in what possessed these young men to volunteer to fight a war on the other side of the world. Indeed there seems to be a renewed and inquiring interest in the history of Australian soldiers at war on the Western Front. There seems to be a genuine longing to comprehend and gain new insights from personal stories recounted of suffering, cruelty, and loss but also of mateship, honour, and pride in the newly formed nation we now call Australia.

Australia is again a new nation-state. We are an emerging multi-cultural entity. My nation is in a state of transition now as it was a century ago. We are moving away from our historical ties with Britain and Europe. Ahead of us all lies a future as an integral yet not fully integrated part of China and Asia. Perhaps the framework most needed by our young to make this transition rapidly and effectively is to ensure they well understand themselves so that they might feel confident and independent.

To feel truly confident and independent most young people in my country (no matter the nature of their family roots or country of origin) will at some point have to make sense of or otherwise come to terms with their heritage as Australians.

A large part of that heritage was won by brave young men on the Western front in WWI. Lest we forget....

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at November 11, 2008 6:08 PM

We in the U.S do not think we were the only ones involved in that war (perhaps contrary to popular opinion). I DID post the entry at 11:00 a.m. Eastern U.S. time, which was five hours behind the actual anniversary (or more?), so I apologize for that. I appreciate, also, that people from around the world contributed here. I know I speak for everybody when I say that our hearts go out to veterans and those who serve right now.

Posted by cathy mosca at November 12, 2008 4:46 PM