Anyone attending the cenotaph on Sunday to remember the fallen? I for one will be one of the 1st there. It’s a great service at the town hall. My dad is always part of the parade with the standard. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. LEST WE FORGET
Unfortunately my son's football clashes with the 11am service so I'll not get to the Royston one this year. That said, the lads do an excellently observed two minutes silence before kick off.
I was on holiday in Belgium and my wife and I decided to take a bus trip to see the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. It's an arch bearing the names of the fallen who trod the route to the battlefields on their way to the front line. Many never returned and the walls of the Gate are inscribed with the names of 54,000 people who fell and whose graves are not known. Every night at 8pm prompt, the traffic on the main road is stopped whilst members of the Ypres Fire Brigade sound the last post. In the Museum in the town there are some haunting black and white photographs taken on the front at the time. I also bought a memory card bearing the epic poem " In Flanders Fields". Written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army I feel it's a fitting tribute to all members of the Armed Forces who made the ultimate sacrifice in order that future generations could live in peace. In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place and in the sky The larks , still bravely singing fly Scarce heard amid the guns below We are the Dead short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved and now we lie In Flanders fields Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you with failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
i'll be at monk Bretton standing with a para, and a marine, it really confuses folk with the different coloured headress's, green, maroon and cambridge blue
Visiting the nearby cemeteries like Tyne Cot and the one containing the gravestones of the fallen soldiers from the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantary and then looking at all the names on the Menin Gate made a big impression as to how absolutely selfless the brave members of armed forces were in making the biggest sacrifice. If you ever get the chance, please go and pay your respects. It's well worth it. http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/memorial-menin-gate.htm
I would love to do that one day soon. As for tomorrow, I will be attending the service in South Elmsall, same as every year. It is very important to me that I am there and I consider it one of the 'must not miss' events of the year, every year. Whatever else is on our agenda on Remembrance Sunday always has to wait until afterwards. Would like to do the Cenotaph service in London one year.
