For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 11, 2017

And your grandma, Mike. She served too.

I’d like to say thanks to my paternal uncle and my maternal granduncle.

I never got to say thanks to my great grandpa (World War II), as he died when I was only a few weeks old. I will, however, say thanks to my PTSD-ridden uncles who I’ve never met (Vietnam), my brother (Navy), and my sister and her husband (Army, Afghanistan).

My maternal grandfather (WWII, Navy) died when I was ten so I never got a chance to thank him. My father (Vietnam, Army) is fortunately still living so I think I’ll give him a call tomorrow to thank him for his service.

They shall not grow old,As we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,We will remember them.

Yes they must be remembered even if some of what they did were against what we wanted or needed. The blame goes to the leadership who starts the war. Wars should be our last resort not our first resort and to replace diplomacy with war is a bad habit we need to get out of.

Here’s how you know I’m a language nerd: I was genuinely moved by this, but part of my, appreciation is also concerning the fact that Johnston remembered to put “thanks” in reversed commas.

There are kids in some place of the world whose grandparents were killed within their Country’s borders by the “defenders” of other Countries that never saw an attacker on their soil. Sons of a lesser God, probably.

Not all vets are looking for thanks. For them, having children, and then grandchildren is reward enough.

Some might say war is never the answer. But it sometimes depends on what question is being asked.

In honour of all the Veterans and all those who serve:

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.

I seem to recall John saying something that when he got married some of his Army buddies did an “arc of swords”, which is traditional when a veteran gets married. Does that mean John is also a veteran? If so no doubt Michael will be thanking John, as well as John’s father.

Part of this country’s strength is build on 3 well known sayings:

starfighter441’s quote above from Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen,

Kipling’s Lest we forget from his Recessional,

Churchill’s often mis-quoted speech at Harrow in 1941: Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

They echo down the generations because almost no generation has escaped the need for them.

Submitted with thanks to Google and Wikipedia

A pox on all your houses! This isn’t about you and your little ego, It’s a moment of silence. Shutup!

Too many people took too much time out of their lives to do too many things that they much rather would not have had to do. We certainly owe them thanks for that.

My natural Father served in WWI as a ‘fuel technician’ in the Navy along with his brother in France. My Father died when I was only 1 1/2 years old, so I haven’t ‘Thanked Him’ for his service since the last time I visited his grave but I did do it out of respect for him ! ! ! !

My Dad was an Air Force vet. He died suddenly last April. By chance one of my sons (a Marine vet) happened to call a few days before and spoke with him but my other two children hadn’t called their grandparents in months and lost their last chance to talk with him. They were devastated.

My grandfather was an Army ambulance driver in WWI. My father was in the Coast Guard in WWII, stationed on the west coast. My brother also served in the Coast Guard in the late 60’s, at “Ocean Station November”, the halfway point between the mainland and Hawaii. My other brother served in the Air Force in Japan in the mid-70’s. My son joined the Coast Guard around 1997. Two of my younger brother’s sons and one daughter-in-law served in the Army in Afghanistan. I am proud to be in this family.

If you are able, save them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind. – Major Michael Davis O’Donnell 1 January 1970 Dak To, Vietnam

Yesterday I attended a Remembrance Day service (at our school. The only vet left that actually saw battle was a Vietnam vet. This ironic, since Canada did not officially send troops, he joined the U.S. army. He comes to the school quite often, to serve as an elder.I asked him once if he had met my cousin, as he was commanding the U.S. Eighth Army in the early sixties, but it turned out he did not join until after my cousin Lloyd was forced to retire in 1964.

Night-Gaunt 49 should just move to Russia, NOKA, China, Iran or some other ‘tolerant’ place where his (or her… I don’ know which) whiney little self can express “itself” freely instead of staying here where there is actually freedom to disagree with “its” all-knowing wisdom. Snowflakes are all 100% right and everyone else is not only wrong but should not even have the right to disagree with them. And heaven forbid express our ignorant erroneous opinions.