Armistice Day.

[Kiwifruit]

The 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War, 'Armistice Day' are all but finished.
In New Zealand there have been many services and memorials remembering those that served and those that did not return. I am impressed by the number of children that have featured in these commemorations.
I never knew until yesterday that NZ lost more men per capita than any other country engaged in the conflict.
Because of the rugby many of the journalists already there have reported on the commemorations that have gone on over in the UK.
I shall be going to see Peter Jacksons doco 'They Shall Not Grow Old' l am told it is well done.
Respect.

[seth]

We went to a local memorial to pay our respects .
The down to st Andrews west sands to see 1 of the 30 sand pictures on beaches around the coast of the UK.
"Pages of the sea"
www.pagesofthesea.org.uk

My great uncle was lost in march 1918 at the Somme.

I visited his name on a wall at a cemetery in fance (he doesn't have a grave but they know where he died from a head wound)

Always a day for reflection.
The 100 years makes it a bit more as nobody who was involved is still with us .

I've recorded the "they shall not grow old" will watch tomorrow.

[Mister Fishfinger]

The Peter Jackson documentary is getting rave reviews. Modern technology has allowed them to colourise the film and correct the frame rate so that everything moves at the right speed. The attention to detail is amazing - they used lip readers to work out what people were actually saying and they even got the NZ army to fire some guns for realistic battle sounds.

Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHYRfukHToc

It really makes you think - 100 years is not long in human history. It could have been us instead of them.

[Gegs]

That film was very well done and very poignant. I went to see it on Armistice day just after attending the morning ceremony. Listening to the stories of those that were there really brought it home.

[seth]

Still to watch it .have it recorded to watch when we're home .
I'm sure it'll be very moving from all I've heard about it .
Hopefully go back to visit my great uncles grave on the Somme again some day

[Mrg]

I do think that these very brace men and women do not go forgotten by today's society,and I was very pleased to here my son of 18 yrs old explaining the full explanation off the poppy to me when I asked him, and he then told me that he had done the same thing to other people at work  who were a bit older than him, and he. Had great pleasure  in telling them , so that the history remains alive , so we never forget them

[VladTepes]

Age shall not weary them
Nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them
LEST WE FORGET.

This song is very poignant...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI

(from the video description)

"Waltzing Matilda" is a very famous Australian folk song and a "Matilda" was the name given to the pack that Australian farm workers carried on their backs.

To "Waltz Matilda" meant to carry your pack of belongings through the bush.

The song "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle is about Australian soldiers who fought against Turkish troops and died in the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I.

Mixed with pictures from Gallipoli are pictures of past and present Canadian troops because this song and slideshow was played during a Remembrance Day assembly at a Canadian public school.

Another emotive 'song'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB2Ad04mukI

from wikipedia

"Joseph MacKenzie wrote the haunting lament after the death of his wife, Christine, and in memory of his great-grandfather, Charles Stuart MacKenzie, a sergeant in the Seaforth Highlanders, who along with hundreds of his brothers-in-arms from the Elgin-Rothes area in Moray, Scotland went to fight in World War I. Sergeant MacKenzie was bayoneted to death at age 35, while defending one of his badly injured fellow soldiers during hand-to-hand trench warfare

Sgt. Charles Stuart MacKenzie went to fight in France during World War I and was shot in the shoulder. The military sent him home to Scotland for treatment, where the surgeon wanted to amputate his arm. Sgt. MacKenzie refused, stating that he had to go back to his men. While recuperating in the hospital, he was asked what it was like to kill "the Hun" (as the Germans were called then). He replied, "what a waste of a fine body of men". His last picture, with him in uniform, was taken on the steps of the hospital. This picture hung in his home above the fireplace. Upon his return to the front, he and his men were engaged in fixed bayonet combat. The composer says, To the best of my knowledge, and taken from reports of the returning soldiers, one of his close friends fell, badly wounded. Charles stood his ground and fought until he was overcome and died from bayonet wounds. On that day, my great grandmother and my grandmother were sitting at the fire when the picture fell from the wall. My great grandmother looked, and said to my grandmother "Oh, my bonnie Charlie's dead".

Sure enough a few days passed, and the local policeman brought the news - that Sgt. Charles Stuart MacKenzie had been killed in action. This same picture now hangs above my fireplace.

A few years back my wife Christine died of cancer, and in my grief I looked at his picture to ask what gave him the strength to go on. It was then, in my mind, that I saw him lying on the field and wondered what his final thoughts were. The words and music just appeared into my head. I believe the men and women like yourself who are prepared to stand their ground for their family - for their friends - and for their country; deserve to be remembered, respected and honoured.

"Sgt. MacKenzie", is my very small tribute to them. After "Sgt. MacKenzie" was first released on our Tried and True CD album in 2000, a copy of the song made its way to the hands of Hollywood director, Randall Wallace and actor Mel Gibson. Immediately they both agreed that "Sgt. MacKenzie" should feature prominently in their upcoming movie We Were Soldiers. The rest, as they say - is history! — Joseph Kilna MacKenzie"

[MarkN]

I went to France last year on the bike with a friend of mine and visited the areas on which British and Canadian forces fought for on D-Day, we had "done" the Utah and Omaha beach areas the year before. Whilst there we went into the Canadian museum at Juno beach and at the end of the walk through the museum is a small theatre in which they play a short film, about fifteen minutes or so, which unfortunately you can't buy. If any of you guys out there are planning a trip to this part of France then don't miss this. I won't go into any detail in case you are, suffice to say there wasn't a dry eye in the house - and my mate is twenty-two year army vet with two tours of Northern Ireland during the "troubles" under his belt.

Excellent videos by the way, no-one should ever forget this episode of history

[lil4399]

I live near Ladapeyre in the 23000 region of France.

To mark the 100 year centenary, the villagers built a true reconstruction of a WW1  trench, built to exact construction methods.

After the commemoration at the cenotaph, all the villagers went and paid respect at the trench, afterwards the Marie provided drinks for everyone.