Spare a Moment

Comments

[More Dakka]

man that song always gets to me...

[Corejo]

Holy hell, this song, man.

[Dafaddah]

Lest we forget...

[Earl of Purple]

I've not actually listened to the song before, but wow. I remember when we went to France to see the eclipse, Dad insisted we go round a war cemetery. So glad we did.

My father's a soldier, and knows people killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. My grandfather on the other side fought in the Second World War. My great-aunt Bunty served as a driver in the RAF during that war, too; I'll be thinking of them on Sunday, and my granddad's cousins who died in the same battle, a day apart, and all the others whom I've not met, of both sides.

[Chris]

My great-grandfather fought in WWI. In the summer of 1917, he got engaged to his highschool sweetheart and went off to war. Barely three months later, he was back stateside, the victim of a chlorine gas attack.

His lungs had been severely damaged by breathing in the chlorine, and he was told that he would probably live less than two years. After some deliberation, and no small number of tears, he and my great-grandmother decided that they would go ahead with their marriage plans--she wanted to be married to the man she loved, even if it was only for a few months. Her father, more practically, pointed out that she would be eligible for certain benefits as a military widow. They wed in the fall of 1917; it was a hasty, rather somber affair, under the circumstances.

They lived together happily for the next 46 years, and had four children together, including my maternal grandfather.

My mom has told me this story several times, on and around Armistice Day. It's a story that makes me feel very small, but also hopeful. It might not have been a miracle, strictly speaking, but at the very least it carries an air of the miraculous to me.

[Olden Bronie]

Thank you for remembering. Here in the U. S. it is Veterans Day. Sometimes I, too, as a veteran, realize that the young people don't understand what we have given for them and to them. I hope this serves as a reminder to them that the freedom they enjoy was paid for with a price I hope they never have to pay. It would be good if they understood the cost, though.

Thanks, again.

[Soge]

Having moved to Canada this year, it is interesting just how much more things about remembrance day register with me. I could swear that I had never heard about it before.

AFAIK my paternal grandfather fought in WW2... but on the other side. It is hard to get any information regarding this, since both he and my grandmother died long before I was born, and from what I gather he avoided even mentioning anything related to it. All I know is that he is the right age, lived in the right place, fled to Brazil as a deserter around the right time, and kept what I heard described as "an officer's uniform" hidden in his house. But it is hard to know exactly what kind of participation he actually had.

[Horse Voice]

4298060

Now that is amazing. It goes to show how important determination is, when struggling against something like that.

4298134

It's a pity they often don't, especially since no effort has been spared to ensure they do. The trouble with people is, they are not in the habit of thinking beyond immediate concerns.

4298140

Stories like this are of a less common sort. I'm reminded of a quote by Roald Dahl, who said that every adult has "a deep, dark secret that would make you gasp if you know it." Perhaps sometimes, it's better not to know.