Remembrance Day (feel free to add any appropriate images to this thread)

grebeman

Old Codgers Group
As befits a city with a long military tradition, particularly with the navy, marines and commandos, Plymouth hosts a large remembrance day ceremony. I can't help feeling that attendance at a smaller gathering might have been more meaningful, however here are a few images from this mornings ceremony on Plymouth Hoe.

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The Royal Marines war memorial below the walls of the citadel with artillery pieces ancient and modern behind

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Royal Marine drummers lead the parade from the citadel on the short march to the war memorial on the Hoe

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The parade turns onto the parade ground

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Standard bearers from various branches of the Royal British Legion

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This gentleman was sitting some distance away beneath Smeatons Tower looking out to sea, perhaps engaged with his own memories

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A large and diverse crowd, at a guess into four figures over the whole area with the naval war memorial rising into the sky. The memorial bears the names of over 20,000 personnel

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The moment a single gunshot marked the end of the two minutes silence


Barrie
 
Here are several from the past year all taken with either my RX1, DP2M or DP3M - all fit the theme

Reading the poetry of Edward Thomas at his graveside, outside of Arras, France
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Mametz Wood, July 2013, scene of fierce fighting by the Welsh Regiment in the Battle of the Somme
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Memorial on the 'Sunken Road' below Hawthorne Ridge where one of the main mines was detonated at the commencement of the battle of the Somme on July 1st 1916. Sadly the delay before the British troops in the lane went 'over the top' into no-mans land allowed the opposing german infantry to regroup leading to massive loss of life. Photographed, July 2013,
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Interesting pictures from Pompey, Barrie.
 
I went to the Cenotaph in London today for the big remembrance day parade. Wow, talk about emotional. Soon as the canon fired for the start of the silence....big tears pricked my eyes. You could hear a pin drop.......or a tear. Seeing some of the ex-servicemen brings it home......missing limbs, blinded, wheelchair bound. Were they the lucky ones?

Anyways, I took my Fuji X100S and my Canon 6D with 70-300L lens. I couldn't trust myself with the Fuji alone. I took well over 1000 shots combined. I am still editing. I hope you don't mind my including some of the 6D shots (which I have edited first)

Untarnished

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Untarnished - Remembrance Day by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

Help with a Poppy

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Help wi'haes Poppy - Remembrance Day by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

Proud Para'

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Proud - Remembrance Day by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

Proud Scotsman

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Remembrance Day by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr
 
A Couple of very different perspectives by Bristish poets who fought in the Great War.

The Soldier (by Rupert Brooke)
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Anthem for Doomed Youth (by Wilfred Owen)
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,--
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

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And finally, this from W.B. Yeats, with a slightly ambiguous political perspective, around the same time.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

So much in current events goes back to unfinished business from WWI that it is indeed important to remember and reflect, and to acknowledge that behind these momentous historical conflagrations, there remain the ultimate costs in personal sacrifice and enduring tragedy.
 
In the States, its amazing how much in current events go back to unfinished business from our Civil War, 150 year ago now. Race relations and major differences between the north and south in the US are still HUGE drivers of politics and policy in our country. Which is part of why the Civil War is still re-enacted and memorialized here in the States more than probably any other war in our history...

-Ray
Good pictures and good points, Ray.

I learned a lot googling re-enactors for various wars. In Southern IL, the Civil War is the ONLY one that gets a battle, and we had to make one up to manage that! (The Battle of Makanda) I'd also never heard of the Sons of the Veterans of the Civil War before, although they have a "camp" in Murphysboro, Il, right next door to Carbondale, where I spent most of my life. I guess I don't get out much.
And if you'll excuse a note of levity, what's this "Civil War?" Do you mean "The War Between the States?"
 
Yeah, that one - uncivil as hell really. Or as some of my Southern friends still call it, "The War of Northern Aggression"!

-Ray

Not sure where I would have stood on that one if living at the time.

Lets put aside the issue of slavery for now, which I heartly would have endorsed getting rid of. A bad practise which never should have been allowed in the land founded on freedom for all.

The issue was that up till that point the Federal Government was somewhat limited as the country was founded as a group of states with a common goal. The power of the Federal Government was nothing like it is today. Much of the real power lay at the State level.

The Southern States got really mad when it looked like the Federal Government was going to make them abolish slavery. They were looking at a huge loss of prosperity. There was a large segmant of society which actually saw dark skinned individuals as lower class citizens and not worthy of basic human rights, (some still do), and found the idea of freeing the slaves rediculous.

The way the country was governed drastically changed from that moment on. No longer was the country seen as a group of states united, but as a country with individual states to be governed.

Sorry for the rant, love studying this period of time. I hope no one is offended, just trying to explain the period.
 
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