Remembrance Day?

[cowman]

Today is the day we are supposed to remember all the old boys who sacrificed to "save our freedom and way of life"?
So thinking about that I remember my old Dad who has been dead for about 20 years now. And what he told me! He said it was nothing but a gong show and he had nothing but contempt for the whole annual "boo-hoo"! He said it was the biggest waste of time he ever participated in and if he had a clue he'd be a cripple for the rest of his life he never would have got sucked in!
Sorry if that offends some, but he was there and he ate the lead and killed those poor dumb German boys! Maybe he needed to be "re-educated" a bit more by our wonderful country!
I guess he was just an old rebel? He had nothing but contempt for "Kanada"!

[silverback]

Can you please clarify what point you are trying to make with this post.

I can't tell if you are slamming Canada or the Veterans we are remembering today.

[farmers_son]

Cowman, I understand where you are coming from. Soldiers died and were injured in various wars, on both sides. For me, Remembrance Day serves to give us an opportunity to reflect on those sacrifices made. Certainly Remembrance Day should not be used as a reason to glorify war or to encourage war as an answer to international conflicts.

For some the war was the best time of their lives, other paid a high price for years afterward. Your dad was one of those. And if you take this day to stand up for your deceased father and let people know what he thought of the war that is just fine with me.

[cowman]

Well I wasn't trying to slam anybody who went and did their job, as they saw it? My old man went, his brother went(and got killed) so that his two younger brothers wouldn't have to go. My grandfather told them it was their duty!My grandmother cried forty years later!
My Dad died in 1988 from a blood clot after surgery to remove shrapnel from his groin. Shrapnel he got in Holland in 1945. He looked like a damned pinto from all the scar tissue when he took off his clothes! He spent his life with only half a foot from 21 years on!
He really wasn't bitter, just had an opinion that the whole thing was a waste of time and stupid.
In his later years he had some problems with his health due to the shrapnel still in his body and probably the fact he had killed people! He told me he never forgot the day he killed a young German boy and how it looked like he had never even shaved(when he talked about that it was obvious that really bothered him)! The year he died he was going to go back to Italy, on some old army reunion thing, and he was looking forward to it...but it was not to be.
Personally I don't think we, as human beings, are set up to deal with killing other people no matter how evil or wicked they are? I think it really messes us up as individuals?

[coppertop]

My father lied about his age to enlist because he was the eldest son in the family, and wanted to ensure that his family did their part. He was wounded, had half his left side blown away, lived for the rest of his life with one lung, and most of the ribs missing on his left side.
He struggled to make an income, working as a carpenter and building houses, barns etc., in the days when people paid when they could or paid with goods in kind vs money. He had horror stories about the war but to his dying day, he maintained that he was proud to have served his country.
I grew up knowing what Remembrance Day meant, and in our home we always observed two minutes of silence at the 11th hour, a practice I will do for the rest of my life. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with my dog, and we stood silent to remember my wonderful Dad and all the others who have been involved in wars, no matter how senseless these wars may seem.

[cowman]

Coppertop: My Dad was quite disgusted with Remembrance Day and never let any of us kids take any part in it! He had this old buddy who used to visit occasionally and we were always fascinated that he only had one leg...he used to show us the stump!
Now I will tell you my old Dad was kind of a radical? he was a seperatist long before you ever heard that term, and he hated the CWB with a passion!
I like to think he was a pretty good old boy, who taught me to think for myself and not buy all the BS the government tried to tell us!
The thing I will always remember about Remembrance day is my Grandmother crying? You would think after close to forty years a person would get over losing a child?

[silverback]

It sounds to me Cowman, that your dad was one of the bravest men this country has produced. If he volunteered so that others didn't have to go then that is something to cheer about.

To me, Nov. 11 is the day to think about the sacrifice and bravery that our troops have shown and also to remind us that brave people have to sometimes stand up to evil.

[coppertop]

cowman, believe me, nobody gets over losing a child. I have seen mothers in our local seniors lodge crying on Rememberance Day as they looked at photo's of brothers, or other family members killed in action.

Five years ago my son and his wife lost their precious daughter, and I know they will never be the same. No parent should have to bury their child, but it happens, and people deal with it, each in their own way, but it never stops hurting.