I meant to start this thread a few days ago, as a general discussion of all things Remembrance Sunday/Armistice Day, but due to one thing or another didn't get 'round to it.

11 O'clock was marked here by the sounding of the firealarms, and then again 2 minutes later. Not quite the last post but at least they combined it with the weekly alarm test.

Is it just me that feels that the rememebrance of those who gave or seriously impaired their lives for the benefit of others is being gradually reduced? I know that in part it's a generational thing, and that I have no contacts with front-line service men or women, but I don't feel that detracts from their sacrifice or my respect for them. Or, do I think, it makes it any less relevant today.

It is difficult for the younger generation to consider when they are so detached from any real contact with those who served. My sister married a chap whose parents were part of the war effort. It was only in the latter years that his dad talked about his experiences flying a Lancaster over enemy territory. His mum is in a home now and worked at Bletchley Park during the war. She still refuses to talk about her role there other than she 'helped' the boffins.

It certainly puts our lives into some sort of perspective.

I have remembered them.

Al

I am very fortunate in that all of my grandparents are still alive. My Grandad fought in Africa and Burma during WWII and my Grandpa worked back home as a chemist, primarily testing explosives. I've spoken to both at fair length about their experiences (the one who fought having more stories naturally). I suspect he held back on some of the more gorey details, as I was still at junior school when we talked. I have seen his medals and the other bits and pieces he has kept.

Dammit, you've gone and got me all emotional now.

Edit: Rang my Grandad for a good chat.

I'm currently trying to research the military service of my paternal grandfather. He died when I was 10, so I didn't really get to know him. I know he joined up just after the First World War and was sent to the North West Frontier for two tours in the 1920s. He was invalided out with malaria, met and married my gran, and then served in the RAF Regiment during the Second World War. He helped clear up some of the mess in France and Germany before he had an accident and was badly burned, and returned to civvie street and his young family. He spent most of the rest of his life as a gardener.

At some point in his time in India, he acquired various items that seem to have come from the Far East. I haven't quite worked out the timeline that would have allowed him to visit further east, although one of the regiments was stationed in Hong Kong for a time - but not necessarily the one he served in.

It's quite interesting to do this research, but it's getting frustrating that so many online archives require money before you can access the info you want.

I wish I had spent more time listening to my Grampy, he was in the navy and travelled the world during the war...

I think today more than ever it is relavant. We don't just remember those that died in WWI/WWII, we remember those that have died during service since those wars too.

My gran nearly married an American GI many moons ago - that certainly would have taken the family tree in a new direction

From talking to people who had relatives that took part in WWI (NI had a big connection with the UVF and Irish Volunteers), it seems a lot of veterans just don't wanna talk about it, which is fair enough. I've heard enough to suspect something of a culture of silence developed, born of many reasons; guilt (at surviving, what you actually did, you name it), not wanting to frighten people with the stories or sound like an old bore, worried that you'd give someone else's game away etc...

make that so …

My Gran was in the war. I don't know what she did (WW2), but she will not talk about it. Not ever.

My Bompa (Great Grandfather) was a cartographer and radioman during the first world war. An entirely different class of warfare, he and his buddy were responsible for mapping the entire area of each trench, and laying the radio cable back from the front. Very dangerous job, but he managed it with good humour, he wrote his memoirs before he died and they make very interesting reading.

Ernie, my Grandmother did marry an American GI just near the end of the war, my Mother and her two sisters were raised in the US until my sister was 18 and Neil died, then they came back to the UK so my Grandmother would have the support of her family. My grandmother started in a factory when war broke out and was helping construct aircraft, then afterwards she was a radio operator and was responsible for some very important connections (apparently.)

My mum, dad, sister and brother-in-law are all "True Blue" both parents were in the Air Force earlier in their carreers, my mum was a radio operator and my dad was an adjutant. My sister worked as an Air Traffic Controller in the Air Force until she left to become a fulltime mum 8 years ago, and my brother-in-law is a Wing Commander, started out as an Aircraft Engineer and still has to fly to Afghanistan occasionally, although less often now he's not working the Tristars anymore.

Armistice day is something we all actively support as a family, and I suspect we always will.

None of my Grandparents ever talked about the war and frankly I don't blame them. To paraphrase Harry Patch, in the end they sorted it all out around a table - why couldn't they have done that before 40 million people died?

I'm just thankful I didn't join the RAF two years ago.

There was a civilian/military split between my grandparents.
The ones on mums side - gran was a WREN (navy nurse) and granddad was in the RAF but didn't fly anything due to his shocking eyesight. They never talked about it much though.
On dads side gran was seamstress who then trained in motorcycle maintenance and also was a crane driver. Granddad was in the merchant navy and one ship he was on got torpedoed. His ship was also sent to Pearl Harbour after it was attacked.

Only one gran left now but she still remembers being in the navy.

I firmly believe we must continue to remember those who have fallen in defence of our freedom and way of life be they in the first or second WW or subsequent conflicts.