Lest We Forget.

[Anonymous]

Remembering all our ripper Australian men and women that have lost their lives fighting to protect us.   And my Dad, Jack who served in the Air Force, Happy Birthday Dad.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for remembering folks.  Sad to say but the War killed so many that returned home as well as in the fields, just took longer. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

Katey, if you want to undertand more about why these men were sent over the top to die in such vast numbers, you might like to read The Great War by Les Carlyon. It's a doorstep of a book and some of the stuff in it will break your heart but it's the best work I have ever read on WWll.

The problem was not so much that the officers were callous -  in the trenches, I believe,  the mortality rate was even higher for officers than it was for men - the problem was with the system of officer training - it ws about 50 years out of date. Nobody really understood trench warfare and they were trying to fight it  using cavalry tactics -  blasting a hole in the enemy's defences and sending your cavalry (or in this case your infantry)  in  through the gap. Also  instilled into every officer was the importance of courage, discipline and determination - if your men  had enough of "the right stuff" then eventually you would be sure to win. What they failed to realise  was that while courage and determination might win the day in a cavalry battle, they counted for very little in the face of  machine gun fire..

[katymatey*]

I think we have that book here somewhere. OH has a very large collection of militaria books. I suppose I just feel so angry that so many lives were lost. I think I heard that more than 2000 soldiers died the last morning of the war, waiting for 11 am to tick over. How futile.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@katymatey* wrote:

I think we have that book here somewhere. OH has a very large collection of militaria books. I suppose I just feel so angry that so many lives were lost. I think I heard that more than 2000 soldiers died the last morning of the war, waiting for 11 am to tick over. How futile.

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You'll feel even more angry after you've read it.  It's a long litany of misconception, communication breakdown  and incompetence, but it will help to explain a lot of things that seem just unbelievable.

[mainecoon1]

Katy my dad was the same he died at 79 sorry I got his age wrong earlier.  He would never talk about the war, when he died he still had shrapnel in his back from were a mine went off behind him, he never told us what it was in his back it was one of my Uncles that let on.

My grandfathers were in the Irish guards in WW1 like yours they both died from lung problems. I am ex military myself so Remembrance day and ANZAC day are very special for me.  

[lyndal1838]

My geat uncle served in WW1,  As long as I can remember him he had shocking lungs...as a kid I thought it was smokers cough until Dad explained he had been gassed during the war.

He lived to a ripe old 83 but was never a well man.  He was the quintessential Aussie larrikin as I found out recently when I read his war records....he went AWL in London for 5 days at one stage and was fined 10 days pay for his trouble.  But he seems to have spent as much time in hospital with lung complaints as fighting a war....Trench Fever, Pneumonia, Bronchitis and gassing.

[goldenjet16]

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I. The end of the war happened at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, so that's why November 11th was chosen.

Congress changed the name to Veterans Day in 1954. Veterans Day, a legal holiday in the United States, honors all who have served in the nation's armed forces, whether they are living or dead.