Lest we forget

[bubbs999]

Originally Posted by lorneould

and "lest" means ?

Definition of lest in English:

conjunction

formal
With the intention of preventing (something undesirable); to avoid the risk of.
‘he spent whole days in his room, wearing headphones lest he disturb anyone’


Lest we Forget - to avoid the risk of forgetting the senseless sacrifice and loss.

It is the doom of men that they forget

He who does not learn from history, is doomed to repeat it

[bubbs999]

It has struck me, that 100 years now having passed, many regard the First World War as dry, crusty - almost 'Ancient' history.

It is also true to say, that recent terrible tragedies, terror attacks and acts of homicidal lunacy - although tragic, have no comparison of scale. (I am in no way belittling these tragedies - loss is heartfelt and devestating to those involved, and their families).

What I'm trying to get across, is that, at this time of Rememberance, we should take time to think about the scale of numbers of people involved ; difficult though it for most of us to comprehend.

As a comparrison :-

The Korean War : 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (3 years, 1 month and 2 days)
British soldiers = 710 killed / 2,278 wounded

the Falklands Conflict : 2 April – 14 June 1982 (2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
British soldiers = 255 killed / 775 wounded

The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991) had a multi-national allied co-allition, with USA taking the lead
British soldiers = 47 killed

the Northern Ireland conflict (The Troubles) : 1968–1998
Over 30 years : British army = 705 killed and 301 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary

Iraq conflict - 19 March 2003 to 22 May 2011
British soldiers = 179 fatalities

War in Afghanistan : 7 October 2001 – present
British soldiers = approx 460 fatalities and 2,300 wounded
------

Arsenal FC ground capacity = 60,432

Just picture standing in that full stadium, when considering British deaths on 1 day of the First World War

The Battle of the Somme : 1 July – 18 November 1916 (79 days)
The first day of the battle claimed over 58,000 British casualties of whom more than 19,000 were killed.

By the end of the Somme offensive (just 79 days) British & Comonwealth casulaties (killed and wounded) numbered 419,654


The casualties suffered by the participants in World War I dwarfed those of previous wars: some 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or disease. The greatest number of casualties and wounds were inflicted by artillery, followed by small arms, and then by poison gas. The bayonet, which was relied on by the prewar French Army as the decisive weapon, actually produced few casualties. War was increasingly mechanized from 1914 and produced casualties even when nothing important was happening. Even on a 'quiet' day on the Western Front, many hundreds of Allied and German soldiers died.

This kind of war made it difficult to prepare accurate casualty lists.A completely accurate table of losses may never be compiled. The best available estimates of World War 1 Military casualties over the entire 4 years are shown below :-

British Empire. 908,371 Killed / 2,090,212 Wounded / 191,652 PoW & MiA / 3,190,235 Total Casualties.

All Allied Forces. 5,142,631Killed / 12,800,706 Wounded / 4,121,090 PoW & MiA / 22,064,427 Total Casualties.

Their sacrifice is so over-whelming


WE MUST NEVER FORGET

[bubbs999]

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[smallblock]

To those who gave their tomorrow, we owe or today. I feel that it is as important today to remember these heros as it was in the conflict they gave their lives. I plan a trip to France/Belgium next November I believe I owe it to those brave men and women who gave so much, my Thanks goes to all of them.

[bubbs999]

Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC

(9th November 1884 – 4th August 1917)


Noel Chavasse was a British Medical Doctor, Olympic athlete, and British Army Officer.

In early 1913, Chavasse applied for and was accepted by the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and was commissioned as a lieutenant on 2nd June.

During the First World War, Chavasse was attached to the 1/10th (Scottish) Battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment). He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1st April 1915.

Chavasse was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry at Hooge, Belgium in June 1915. On 30th November that year he was Mentioned in Despatches.

Chavasse was first awarded the VC for his actions on 9th August 1916, at Guillemont, France when he attended to the wounded all day under heavy fire. The citation read:-

Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, M.C., M.B. Royal Army Medical Corps.

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty.

During an attack he tended the wounded in the open all day, under heavy fire, frequently in view of the enemy. During the ensuing night he searched for wounded on the ground in front of the enemy's lines for four hours.
Next day he took one stretcher-bearer to the advanced trenches, and under heavy shell fire carried an urgent case for 500 yards into safety, being wounded in the side by a shell splinter during the journey.
The same night he took up a party of twenty volunteers, rescued three wounded men from a shell hole twenty-five yards from the enemy's trench, buried the bodies of two officers, and collected many identity discs, although fired on by bombs and machine guns.
Altogether he saved the lives of some twenty badly wounded men, besides the ordinary cases which passed through his hands. His courage and self-sacrifice, were beyond praise.

Chavasse's 2nd VC award was made during the period 31 July to 2 August 1917, at Wieltje, Belgium. The citation read:-

War Office, September, 1917.

His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of a Bar to the Victoria Cross to Capt. Noel Godfrey Chavasse, V.C., M.C.

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in action.

Though severely wounded early in the action whilst carrying a wounded soldier to the Dressing Station, Capt. Chavasse refused to leave his post, and for two days not only continued to perform his duties, but in addition went out repeatedly under heavy fire to search for and attend to the wounded who were lying out.
During these searches, although practically without food during this period, worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, he assisted to carry in a number of badly wounded men, over heavy and difficult ground.
By his extraordinary energy and inspiring example, he was instrumental in rescuing many wounded who would have otherwise undoubtedly succumbed under the bad weather conditions.

This devoted and gallant officer subsequently died of his wounds.

The war medals of Capt Noel Chavasse

Chavasse succummed to his wounds on 4th August 1917 Brandhoek and is buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, Vlamertinge.



His headstone carries, uniquely, a representation of two Victoria Crosses.

Chavasse was the only man to be awarded both a Victoria Cross and Bar in the First World War, and one of only three men ever to have achieved this distinction.

Noel Chavasse Memorial on display at the Army Medical Services Museum.

[DB83]

I wrote a little poem some years ago (when we still had a military force in Afghanistan).

"The Fallen"

On this day
At the eleventh hour
As the guns fell silent
On a war to end all wars

A memory to the fallen
And the sacrifices they gave
So that no more man should fight man
For whatever the cause.

But years pass by
And tears still flow
For lives still lost
In the fields where the poppies grow.

So on this day
At the eleventh hour
We salute the brave
And place these poppies on their grave.

[crinolynne]

Originally Posted by bubbs999

It has struck me, that 100 years now having passed, many regard the First World War as dry, crusty - almost 'Ancient' history.

My Grandfather was in charge of a mule train taking ammunition to the front. He told the story than on one occasion, they had stopped for lunch at a cross-roads. Presumably the mules were allowed to forage for themselves. For no apparent reason, one mule took off down the road, my grandfather in hot pursuit - a few seconds later, a shell hit the crossroads.

I owe my existence to a prescient mule. Ancient history? I think not.

[bubbs999]

Bryn Terfel - Going Home


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfFKM3_Ay8g


Going home, going home
I'm just going home
Quiet light, some still day
I'm just going home


It's not far, just close by
Through an open door
Work all done, care laid by
Going to fear no more


Mother's there expecting me
Father's waiting, too
Lots of folk gathered there
All the friends I knew


All the friends I knew
I'm going home
Nothing's lost, all's gain
No more fret nor pain
No more stumbling on the way
No more longing for the day
Going to roam no more


Morning star lights the way
Restless dream all done
Shadows gone, break of day
Real life begun


There's no break, there's no end
Just a living on
Wide awake with a smile
Going on and on


Going home, going home
I'm just going home
It's not far, just close by
Through an open door
I am going home
I'm just going home

Dedicated to all the boys that never made it home from war

[george anson]

It's not ancient history to me at all. If one can empathize and feel reading through historical accounts, books and the poetry be it from the Great War or accounts of Caesar's invasion of Gaul it'a nasty unpleasant to say the least business in which individuals lived through sheer terror with the threat of imminent death be it at the front or the home front through starvation, illness or accidents such as women killed manufacturing munitions .

It's a sheer waste of life and the enormity of it are brought to one when one visits the cemeteries in France. One million dead means that some eight million individuals who should be here in the present never came to be. Who knows what the poets, writers, sculptors, scientists and composers who died young might have acheived ? Numerous families came to a dead end where all the sons passed away. In the area of Watford there are twelve war memorials/crosses and our school has a illuminated book with the page turned once a day commemorating some three hundred former pupils and masters who perished in both world wars and a brass plaque with a nearly a hundred names from the Great War.

It's not as if the Great War was the first to be nasty to civilians (those living in Belgium can testify to that). Many previous conflicts have brought suffering to non combatants but industralization brought death in unimagined numbers. The generals failed to realize this and the consequences are there for all to see.

Some wars are just, some are not but I still feel deep down what a waste of lives the Great War was considering the internecine feuds between royal houses that caused it all. Even the soldiery came to realize this when your read the mass of correspondence that has been published. Such a shame the Christmas truce did not persist, that the French and British soldiers did not mutiny given the attitude of Nivelle and Haig.

Those killed for desertion although pardoned bothers me too. Many were suffering severe stress and were not cowards at all. And the treatment veterans received after coming back and indeed in all conflicts certainly in this country to me has been abominable.

However the efforts of historians like Peter Barton, novels from Foulks and the plethora of documentaries have shed new light on this horrific era and the contributions of Dominions troops who also seem to have been passed over.

Sad to say those that used to turn out to collect for the Poppy Appeal emblazoned with medals have passed away. There used to be a lovely old gentleman for example in a RAF blazer and beret and immaculately turned out who collected for the Wings Appeal who I have not seen for many years. But if you have not, do give what you can for the current members of the armed forces many of whom are also living with terrible physical and mental scars. And remember there are charities that look after the armed forces all year that you can donate to as well like St.Dunstans.

God bless them all, even many of the 'enemy' ordered to kill in the name of some political expediency and vainglorious idiots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iSSVkeorMY

The Last Tommy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho33eVaYdPc

[Mal Hombre]

All wars are a waste of life but since the Germans were killing Belgian civilians,Should We have stood aside ?