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Thread: Armistice Centenary

  1. #1
    Grand Master dkpw's Avatar
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    Armistice Centenary

    What are your remembrance plans?

    I'm simply going round to watch the Cenotaph Ceremony with 86 year old dad. His father won an MC in France and never really recovered from what he experienced there. In turn this affected my dad, who has spent his life reading obsessively about every aspect of the war, in part because his father never once spoke about it.

    The echoes of history.

  2. #2
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
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    Assuming it's not chucking it down, I'll wander around to the war memorial around the corner.

    My daughter and I attended an event there 4 years ago to mark the start of WW1, so it'll close a loop.

    My grandfathers served in both World Wars (one in each), but survived.

    I don't know much about my paternal grandfather as he died before I was born, but my Mum tells me that her father (who I remember, but died when I was quite young) would lock himself away on the 11th November for a few hours - Some scars go deeper than those you can see...

    M

  3. #3
    Grand Master dkpw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by snowman View Post
    Assuming it's not chucking it down, I'll wander around to the war memorial around the corner.

    My daughter and I attended an event there 4 years ago to mark the start of WW1, so it'll close a loop.

    My grandfathers served in both World Wars (one in each), but survived.

    I don't know much about my paternal grandfather as he died before I was born, but my Mum tells me that her father (who I remember, but died when I was quite young) would lock himself away on the 11th November for a few hours - Some scars go deeper than those you can see...

    M
    Your last sentence is so true.

    I never met my grandfathers, Dad's dad unfortunately died 10 years before I was born. We're sure now that he would have been diagnosed with PTSD, which was not treated in previous decades. He died early from attempting to quell his memories, self-medicating with alcohol.

  4. #4
    Will be at our village church tomorrow for the Remembrance service (we don't have a war memorial).

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  5. #5
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    We are going to a WW1 street party tonight at my Lodge... should be fun 😀

  6. #6
    Grand Master VDG's Avatar
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    Remembrance church service tomorrow followed by lunch. Looking forward to it.
    Fas est ab hoste doceri

  7. #7
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    Parading with the Scouts we have recently come back from a visit to the Somme area visiting the graves and memorials of the soldiers who lost there lives and are remembered on our village war memorial and names tread our at the parade and service.
    I also managed to visit the grave of my great uncle whilst we were out there.

  8. #8
    Master
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    My daughters are in a remembrance parade followed by a service at the local memorial.
    In the afternoon, a big family dinner where a glass shall be raised in memory of the fallen, then on to those that have and still do put themselves in harms way to keep us safe.

  9. #9
    Master
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    I will be on parade at the Cenotaph tomorrow marching with my old and some young Royal Military Police veterans.

  10. #10
    Master thegoat's Avatar
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    I'll head into Manchester City centre for the parade which is usually excellent.
    My Grandad was at Monte Cassino and would never talk about it in front of his wife. Once he told my Dad that he had no intention of deliberately taking a life and would stick his rifle above his head and fire blindly in the direction of the German lines.

  11. #11
    Master
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    My colleagues and I have been drafted in to ensure that things all go as they should, somewhere in the vicinity of Parliament Square I should imagine - the weather's not looking good though.

    Must dash...got to be up at 0300

  12. #12
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    It's my 20th wedding anniversary tomorrow. IIRC it was around 11am. I'll be driving to the Beach House Restaurant at Oxwich bay on the Gower peninsula at that time. I'll be remembering those who fell in WW1 as well.
    Last edited by trident-7; 10th November 2018 at 20:50.

  13. #13
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
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    Will be at the village war memorial remembering my grandfather who was a piper in the Seaforth Highlanders in ww1 and my father who was in the Fleet Air Arm in ww2.

    With his younger brother to the right.

  14. #14
    Master pacifichrono's Avatar
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    I remember all the Armistice Day events when I was a boy in the fifties, when there were lots of Great War vets in parades. Not many WWII vets took part way back then - - too busy making lives for themselves and their families. My paternal grandpa was a Swedish immigrant and wasn't in the U.S. military during the Great War. My maternal grandfather also wasn't in the military, but I think it was due to medical ineligibility. Being a second generation German-American may have given him second thoughts if he had been in the military. We never discussed it, though.

    My dad and his brother served in the U.S. Army during WWII, my dad in the Pacific and his brother in Europe with Army Intelligence. Then of course, I slopped through the mud of Vietnam 25 years later!


  15. #15
    Master Yorkshiremadmick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pacifichrono View Post
    I remember all the Armistice Day events when I was a boy in the fifties, when there were lots of Great War vets in parades. Not many WWII vets took part way back then - - too busy making lives for themselves and their families. My paternal grandpa was a Swedish immigrant and wasn't in the U.S. military during the Great War. My maternal grandfather also wasn't in the military, but I think it was due to medical ineligibility. Being a second generation German-American may have given him second thoughts if he had been in the military. We never discussed it, though.

    My dad and his brother served in the U.S. Army during WWII, my dad in the Pacific and his brother in Europe with Army Intelligence. Then of course, I slopped through the mud of Vietnam 25 years later!

    Respect to you and your family.


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  16. #16
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    Very detailled question here: when the time of the cease-fire was agreed, what time zone was used? (Looking at the Cenotaph Ceremony as we speak)

    M.

  17. #17
    Master Thewatchbloke's Avatar
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    My grandfather served right the way through the first world war, gaining his pip, squeak and wilfred medals which have been passed down to me, mustard gas wrecked his lungs and he died in the early 1930's as a result. He never lived to see his youngest son (my dad) grow up.

    My youngest son is currently serving and will be deployed to South Sudan on December 1st.

    We will be having a moment of quiet contemplation here at home at 11.00.

  18. #18
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thewatchbloke View Post
    My grandfather served right the way through the first world war, gaining his pip, squeak and wilfred medals which have been passed down to me, mustard gas wrecked his lungs and he died in the early 1930's as a result. He never lived to see his youngest son (my dad) grow up.

    My youngest son is currently serving and will be deployed to South Sudan on December 1st.

    We will be having a moment of quiet contemplation here at home at 11.00.
    Wishing him a safe deployment!

    According to my youngest, there's currently a ceremony in my hometown, across the Royal Palace and in front of the Former WWII Canadian Army HQ. There's a 'twin-monument' (the copy of the monument is in Burlington CAN) remembering the Canadian soldier who died here in Holland during the liberation of the eastern part of The Netherlands.

  19. #19
    Grand Master Foxy100's Avatar
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    I'm stuck on a train in north London. I'd say one in fifty is wearing a poppy, very odd.
    "A man of little significance"

  20. #20
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Foxy100 View Post
    I'm stuck on a train in north London. I'd say one in fifty is wearing a poppy, very odd.
    In what way?

    n2
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  21. #21
    Grand Master Foxy100's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    In what way?

    n2
    It's Remembrance Sunday, they're conspicuous by their absence. Maybe I'm just out of touch with what people think these days. Maybe we're a generation on from people like me who saw how WW2 affected my grandparents and parents. I don't know. It's just remarkable to me that there are so few poppies.
    "A man of little significance"

  22. #22
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    I’ve just arrived at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul in São Paulo, where it’s pleasing to see a large turnout for the Service of Remembrance.

  23. #23
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
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    I didn't wear a Poppy today.

    I bought one a couple of weeks ago, but lost it and never got an opportunity to get another.

    Over the last couple of years they have fallen to bits in a couple of days, which, if the same this year, might explain why few are wearing them today...

    There was a huge turnout at my local war memorial, veterans, currently serving and plenty with no outward signs of military affiliations.

    We got a Chinnok flypast too.

    M

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  24. #24
    Grand Master Carlton-Browne's Avatar
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    We have two cenotaph services in Berlin; the main one at the cemetery on Heerstrasse and a second one in the former east at a place called Stahnsdorf. The ambassador (together with other Commonwealth ambassadors) attends the Heerstrasse event and the military attache goes to the second one which is also the one I normally attend.

    https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery...tern-cemetery/

    I think the military attache had better get his watch serviced for next year, by my reckoning (Smith W10 & Moeris GSTP) we started the silence at 10:54! At least this year the bugler (on loan from the Bundeswehr) was absolutely note perfect which is not always the case; if only the same could be said of the pigskin piano player from the Legion.
    In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Carlton-Browne View Post
    We have two cenotaph services in Berlin; the main one at the cemetery on Heerstrasse and a second one in the former east at a place called Stahnsdorf. The ambassador (together with other Commonwealth ambassadors) attends the Heerstrasse event and the military attache goes to the second one which is also the one I normally attend.

    https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery...tern-cemetery/

    I think the military attache had better get his watch serviced for next year, by my reckoning (Smith W10 & Moeris GSTP) we started the silence at 10:54! At least this year the bugler (on loan from the Bundeswehr) was absolutely note perfect which is not always the case; if only the same could be said of the pigskin piano player from the Legion.

    It was tremendous to have had Frank-Walter Steinmeier laying a wreath at the Cenotaph today. A very moving service - as ever.

  26. #26
    Went down to the cenotaph for the parade, my daughter was part of the ceremony with St. John’s Ambulance. It was nice to see, I have happy memories of attending with cadets when I younger.

    Back home for lunch and presents (yep, it’s my birthday today).

    My daughter’s horse riding lesson, then out for dinner tonight.

    Rather nice day, with some quiet reflection.

  27. #27
    Craftsman
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    I put on my solitary medal and attended the ceremony on Plymouth Hoe. A big turn out - and very encouragingly a lot of young (20-30s) men and women.

  28. #28
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by MADDOG View Post
    I will be on parade at the Cenotaph tomorrow marching with my old and some young Royal Military Police veterans.
    My dad would have loved that -had he still been with us. He saw service in Italy and Burma with the infantry but then joined the RMP and served in Korea, Malaya and Aden.

  29. #29

    Armistice Centenary

    Ypres - Messines - Passchendaele - Loos en Gohelle - Vimy - Duisans (Arras). Relatives buried in Loos (1Gloucestershire) and Duisans (13Royal Scots). Grandfather (2KRRC) seriously wounded at Loos.


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    Last edited by BillyCasper; 11th November 2018 at 17:55.

  30. #30
    Master pacifichrono's Avatar
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    I observed the centenary early this morning thinking about the "Great War" and its combatants during my solitary six-mile trail hike.


  31. #31
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    Took the boy to the Cenotaph for the first time. An early start for the family but well worth it. Excellent ceremony as ever but did notice several soldiers (including a Guardsman!)fainting which I haven't seen before. I expect they'll be buying their platoons drinks tonight. Glad the rain held off.

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  32. #32
    Grand Master dkpw's Avatar
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    Thank you for all your replies. It's great to see that so many TZUKers remembered the incredible sacrifice all sides made during that terrible war and in all the conflicts since.

    My current avatar is a 1916 poppy made from brass reclaimed from British shells fired during the battle of the Somme and was part of the British Legion's, Every Man Remembered campaign. Each poppy commemorates a soldier who fell during the extended Somme campaign which started in July 1916 and went on until November that year. It comes with a card listing some basic details of a fallen soldier. As I mentioned in my OP, my father has read extensively throughout his life about WW1 and so I decided do some research on the named soldier on my card and discuss him with dad.

    By pure chance, my Grandfather was is the 51st Division, as was Gunner J. S Duncan, so they were both Highlanders. Gunner Duncan came from Aberdeenshire, not too far from Nairn where my grandfather was born. He was a member of 'X' group of the 51st Trench Mortar Battery, part of the Royal Field Artillery in the division. These were teams of soldiers who operated light to medium mortars to provide short to medium range offensive or defensive artillery fire. This was a dangerous job, as the Germans deliberately targeted such teams and thus the other troops didn't always want to be that close to them, understandably.

    Gunner Duncan died on the 21st October 1916 during the Battle of the Ancre Heights during a German counter-attack that morning, near Beaumont Hamel and is buried in Hébuterne Military Cemetery, which is beautifully tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He shares that cemetery with 716 other allied servicemen, including many New Zealanders.



    My relatives made it through the war, so many did not. I remember Gunner Duncan.

  33. #33
    Master
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    Four of my grandad's brothers went to fight in the Great War. All four of them came back. They were lucky.

  34. #34
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    My Grandson 13 yrs has joined the Air Cadets and was out yesterday marching very proudly.

  35. #35
    Thomas Reid
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    Quote Originally Posted by Foxy100 View Post
    I'm stuck on a train in north London. I'd say one in fifty is wearing a poppy, very odd.
    Perhaps you shouldn't conclude much from this. I never wear a poppy. I am a veteran. (USA. Cold war era, however. I'm not quite that old.) And, I usually give £15-25 to people collecting for the Royal British Legion. I don't wear wristbands either.

    Best wishes,
    Bob
    Last edited by rfrazier; 12th November 2018 at 14:44.

  36. #36
    Grand Master Foxy100's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rfrazier View Post
    Perhaps you shouldn't conclude much from this. I never wear a poppy. I am a veteran. (USA. Cold war era, however. I'm not quite that old.) And, I usually give £15-25 to people collecting for the Royal British Legion. I don't wear wristbands either.

    Best wishes,
    Bob
    There's a distinct possibility I simply saw a hell of a lot of people happy to donate but not interested in wearing a poppy.
    "A man of little significance"

  37. #37
    Craftsman
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    My great uncle was killed at Plug street, near Ypres right before Christmas in 1914, he missed the Christmas truce. His brother my paternal Grandfather was wounded and left for dead at Gallipoli. He had a manic fear of flies for the rest of his life, and they say he never smiled again. They were both Rifle Brigade, now Royal Green Jackets. My maternal grandfather, a Grenadier, was wounded at the Somme, the shell didnt explode. We still have the tip of it.

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