This day is less somber in the USA - we have our remembrance day in May with Memorial Day (which pre-dates Remembrance Day by some 50 years). Today on these shores it's "Thank a Veteran" Day.
But in Europe and the ANZAC nations, this remembers when a whole generation was butchered and damned.
You can visit young Willie McBride in the Authuille Military Cemetery, grave A.36.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteAye, this is a good song for Armistice Day.
ReplyDeleteWell done. I was honored to be invited aboard HMAS Parramatta for Remembrance Day at HMAS Sterling a few years ago. VERY poignant ceremony.
ReplyDeleteSchooner Fare would do this from time to time, and not a dry eye in the house.
ReplyDeleteFrom Australia 20% of the men who enlisted for the first world war died. In a country that had a population of 5 million at the time. Almost no family was left untouched, there's good reason almost every small town has a memorial of some sort.
ReplyDeleteGood choice of song. I'm also partial to "The Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda.'"
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. And I will admit, I am in tears whenever I hear "The Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda'".
ReplyDeletehttps://detritusofempire.blogspot.com/2019/10/soldiers-of-great-war-peace-century-late.html
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