[NKP_Vet]

"Lest we forget the fallen soldiers of yesterday" RIP.

[cripplecreek]

I’m watching the American Heroes Channel now (AHC). There’s a show on now about Chosin in Korea.

[Yardstick]

Bones from 130,000 unidentified soldiers in the ossuary at Verdun. Incredible.

[BerryDingle]

bfl

[greene66]

I always used to enjoy talking to WW1 vets, when I traveled around. Lots of interesting stories. Also remember chatting with an old gent who was a soldier who went after Pancho Villa under General Pershing. I’d often ask such folks of that generation (not just vets) things like the first time they saw an airplane in flight, which was something that always seemed to leave quite an impression. Or, their first encounter with radio.

Lot of grit in those old folks. Ditto the ones that went through the Depression and fought WW2. Always fascinating to talk to. I’d always make a beeline to some “old-timer” just for the conversation. Not much point in it anymore, though. Not with the generational shift of “old-timers” now being grotty old hippies awash in insufferable self-importance, and self-congratulatory tales involving sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. Ugh. I really miss having those pre-baby boom generations around. They were more of a reflection of the America I admired and was in awe of.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Thanks for the photos. I have been to Verdun and the little village of Fleury one feels a great sadness as one walks in the area. It is hard to believe. If I remember correctly there were 800,000 casualties in the battle that lasted from February until the end of the year.

[Redleg Duke]

My Grandfather was in the Trenches in War One with the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division. He told me of the time his regiment was inspected by General Pershing. Some bastard took Grandpa Schulz's rifle from the rack (He was always meticulous about cleaning it!) and left a dirty, rusty one in its place! He had five minutes before formation and was only able to clean the outside. Pershing inspected only one soldier in each company. Yeah, you got it! Grandpa drew the short straw. When Pershing looked down the bore of the rifle, he said it was filthy and asked for an explanation. Grandpa told him why, and Pershing told him he had done a fine job on the outside, considering the time!

Grandpa also told me about life in the trenches, being chased by a German Albatross, and ending up in the French sector. He also told me about hand-to-hand with the Germans. Grandpa's folks came from Germany and he spoke German. He told me a sad story that remains with me always.

I need to write down what he told me and pass it on to my cousins while I can still remember it.

Grandpa was a heck of a hunter, fisherman and a great teacher. I miss him and he has been gone about 40-years.

[Always A Marine]

Beautiful and haunting photos, and grim reminders of the terrible costs of a needless war that should never have been fought. WWI was the opening episode of Europe’s two step demographic suicide, ushering the rise of Hitler and the second round of slaughter. Today we are entering a similar cyclical phase of history, with multicultural societies fragmenting into their most disparate parts. War fever never remains dormant for long.

[353FMG]

WWI and the subsequent flue epidemic that killed additional millions, left an indelible mark on Europe.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Here are some genuine color photos from WWI taken by a Frenchman who was experimenting with color photography

[Kolokotronis]

For my grandfather and my great uncles who barely survived the Great War. They lived decades with gas scarred lungs and carried pieces of German lead to their graves; they were my heroes and taught me to hate war! God Bless them; may their memories be eternal!

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

39 A cross stands on the edge of the Lochnagar Crater on March 28, 2014 in La Boisselle, France. The crater was made when an enormous mine was detonated on the first day of the Somme offensive during World War One.

Take a look at the size of that crater. A mine? Can TNT make a crater that large?

[Popman]

Sadly the world is moving toward another world war...

http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=8063#more-8063

[Little Bill]

My Great Uncle was with the Newfoundland Regiment their memorial is inspiring.

My Grandfather was with the Canadian Black Watch at Ypres and was gassed in 1915.

[exit82]

The entire 10 part series in The Atlantic on WW1 is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/wwi/

Fascinating photographs on a various of aspects of the Great War.