FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: The Christmas Truce 1914 ~ December 29, 2014

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC

[ConorMacNessa]

REQUEST PERMISSION
TO COME ABOARD



CHARLESTOWN, Mass. (Jan. 14, 2008) The first major snowfall of the New Year blankets the USS Constitution. Despite the weather "Old Ironsides," remained open for free public tours. At 210 years-old, USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, manned by 67 active-duty United States Sailors and visited by nearly half a million visitors annually. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Brown (Released)

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!!!





Boston, Oct. 21, 2009 - Boatswains Mate 2nd Class Philip Gagnon pipes as USS Constitution performs an underway demonstration in honor of the three-masted wooden frigate's 212th birthday. (U.S. Navy photo by Airman Mark Alexander/Released).
(Click for Bosun’s Whistle)



USS Constitution's 1812 Marine Guard fire vintage Springfield flintlock muskets during the ship's underway. "Old Ironsides" was underway for the "Constitution Day Cruise," which is conducted to thank the family and supporters of Constitution. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Nick Lyman (Released)

OUR TROOPS ROCK!!!!!!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Permission Granted!

[darkangel82]

If only this truce had been permanent. Then the rest of that terrible war would not have happened, and the past 100 years would have been very different.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Sorry I was late....my computer decided to lock up as I tried to post. GRRRRR!!!

[dfwgator]

Would the world been better off with a German victory in WWI, if the Brits didn’t intervene and lose so many, and basically doom her Empire in the long run? So they may have had to make a deal with Germany. Long-term it would have worked out better for Europe as a whole.

[SandRat]

Oh Silent Night....,

[darkangel82]

Germany only replaced one tyrant with another, but I’ll stop there to avoid getting too political for the Canteen.

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Kathy and Star!

***HUGS***



Thanks very much – coming aboard! Rendering Hand Salutes to our National Colors and to the Officer of the Deck!

And thanks very much to you and Star for tonight’s Hall of Heroes thread! The British and German Soldiers who shared Christmas carols and fellowship a hundred years ago affirmed the values of Western Civilization that we share and that underlie our Freedoms and social order. They are most worthy of admission to our Hall of Heroes!

[ConorMacNessa]

I was getting ready to send a search party out! :)

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[left that other site]

Hi everybody!

((((HUGS))))

[ConorMacNessa]

Rest In Peace Fallen Brother!



SFC Ramon S. Morris, USA
2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment
1st Cavalry Division
KIA Afghanistan
12 December 2014



First Cavalry Division


God Of Our Fathers
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
(Click)







Taps
(Click)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, darkangel82....if only.

[ConorMacNessa]

Rest In Peace Fallen Brother!



SPC Wyatt J. Martin, USA
2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment
1st Cavalry Division
KIA Afghanistan
12 December 2014



First Cavalry Division


God Of Our Fathers
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
(Click)







Taps
(Click)

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!



Missing Man Setting

"The Empty Chair"

By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004

"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

AS YOU REMEMBER.

The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

WE SHOULD REMEMBER."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

And now she decided to peel the sweet potatoes....my job is to cut them. They are on the stove in water for boiling as we speak. So, I have to run back and forth and check on them. I HAVE to find out about a scooter or electric wheelchair...her mobility is getting worse and worse.

[PROCON]

Evening Ma!

You ready for the New Year? It's upon us.

BTW, only 362 more shopping days until Christmas :-)

[mylife]

There was a famous British fellow that would play the soccer ball between trenches.

He was killed, but I believe the brits continued it on as a motivation.

The ball was found decades later.

It all must be true, I saw it on Antiques Roadshow!

[DUMBGRUNT]

history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s1YvnfcFVs&src_vid=NWF2JBb1bvM&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_148824475

the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

More in Weekend WSJ 21 Dec

“C’mon you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever!”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Daly

I do not believe that I could ever understand the terror of the trenches; or ever want to.

[ConorMacNessa]

Perhaps one for you as well?

Ducking! :)

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)