Posted on 11/11/2008 4:55:04 PM PST by VlPu
90 years to the day after 11/11. 11:11, the second which officially ended World War I.
For the first time not one member of the two huge armies, German and French, that clashed on the fields of Verdun , attendeded Armistice Day service in Verdun, and paid tribute to those who had died, as the last 4 survivors of World War I are all British. Earlier in London, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans attended a ceremony at the Cenotaph.Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108, represented the Royal Air Force, Army and Royal Navy respectively. All of them entered the war early enough to still experienced the unprecedented horrors of the first global slaughter. But none of them entered the war early enough to still have a chance to experience the moment when the lights went out over the battlefields to be never relit. (1)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Old soldiers never die, they just fade away..
As I recall, some 10,000 artillery pieces opened up at the start of the Battle of Verdun
Or Austrian, Russian, Japanese or Italian?
Never mind - I see now they’re talking only of the Battle of Verdun.
Seeing this headline made my stomach drop.
Can they all really fade away like that?
You almost wonder what to do when they are all gone.
And it was said a man died every ten minutes. The Germans lost some 225,000 and the French some 300,000.
That was a wicked ugly war. I cannot comprehend it, no matter how much I read and think about it.
My grandfather was gassed at the 2nd Battle of Ypres. At the bottom of their trenches were the bones of the men who died at the 1st Battle of Ypres.
All for what? What was it about? Why did Wilson insist that America enter? Why did we take Britan’s side? It has never made a lot of sense to me, like several other wars in US History. My great uncle fought in it. My father had his WW1 service medal.
There are more than four surviving World War One veterans. One American, several Brits, Canadians and Australians .. and per this link a couple who are French. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I
Kind of tough to reconcile sending your kid to fight a war against people your leaders will be ass kissing due to a change in administration.
Let me know when the aliens land, until then none of my kids will fight and die unless there is a very good reason.
George W. Bush utterly surrendered and failed to fight on the home front against the enemy within in the media and the socialists in Congress.
They did him in and made the sacrifice of the brave soldiers in raghead land meaningless.
Maybe some WOT vets with balls will make it right.
Wikipedia article is not up to date
I had a couple of Great Uncles who served in France during WWI. They had some interesting stories. I wish they had been tape recorded.
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