11/11

[Blandmum]

Just finished doing some cooking while listening to the afternoon play on radio 4, and I'm still rather emotional.

Today is remembrance day and we all think about those who layed down their lives in war.

As a mother I keep thinking the same thing, how did their parents cope with the loss?

And so as well as remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice I'm doing a bit of thinking about those who suffered the ultimate loss, that of their children. Long dead now, we owe them too.

((( hugs )))

Its unimagenable.

Did you see the old soldier on the news who, at age of 109, returned to France to pay his respects to his friends who died?

Firstly to survive that horrible war which, when looking at the programmes about it or reading the articles seemed a completely pointless bloodbath. Then to get to such an age. The survivors of WW1 won't be around when dst (nearly 4) are old enough to learn about it.

It is so important that we as parents teach our children about the wars and the one continuing now. I am hoping that there will be more responses on your thread Martianbishop.

I was in M&S when the lights dimmed and the 2 minute silence started. I watched young people who didn't seem to have a clue look around, but they stayed silent. 1 older guy, who should've known better, grumbled and stormed out making a lot of noise, leaving a very embarrassed wife.

It was the first moment of silence I'd had all day and it really struck home how much those men had done for us.

I've just watched Eastenders and got really emotional! It really brought it home to me what those men and women did for us. I think more so now because i'm a mum and I cannot imagine what it would be like no never see my DH again and for DS never to know his dad.
It sounds like a cliche but we really wouldn't be here living the lives we all have without them.

It chokes me more with every year that passes, especially seeing fewer and fewer of the veterans.

ML I was in Waitrose and they clearly tannoyed several times it he half hour or so preceding to warn that everything would stop for 2 minutes as a mark of respect. I was shocked that it was older couples who were still millling around and debating which product to choose. Don't know what they thought the rest of us were up to. Eventually they did stop, but by then it was almost over.

So so sad, I will do everything possible for our son to learn about the wars and the people that fought in them, although I think he's a little too young to start yet at only 8 months old.
I will be giving him an extra big kiss tonight xxx

Some wonderful pictures here from the BBC website - esp number 5.

I'd lost track of the time this morning, so was a bit surprised to be locked out of Tescos at 11.00 as the security staff had barricaded the doors to enforce the minute's silence. Ds2 was not impressed with being made to stand outside in the howling gale in the car park.
I whispered to him that we had to stay quiet to remember the soldiers who'd died or been hurt by fighting, then we played Ssshhh for the remaining 45 seconds. To his credit he didn't make a fuss, but I think he'd have been happier being quiet indoors in the warm.

Ds's school always get all the kids out into the playground and lined up in their classes so that everyone can observe the silence - I am always impressed by this as he is in the infants.

it's a bank holiday in belgium.
also, i didn't know about the use of poppies to remember it in the uk until i moved here. it's such a touching symbol.

I was in Tescos just before 11am this morning when it was announced over the tannoy they would be holding 2 mins silence.

I have never heard anyhting like it - one second there was the hustle bustle of people talking, kids crying, tills beeping, trolleys bumping etc, then a hush descended on the entire store and you could've heard a pin drop. It was amazing and I actually felt quite emotional at the end of it.

Is it just me, or is more now being made of the minute's silence than in previous years? We didn't do a minute's silence in school, unless the 11th was on an assembly day, in which case we'd do it at 9.15 as part of the assembly. I don't recall supermarkets doing much either.

Obviously I could be wrong, but it seems that more people are observing the silence now. Which is no bad thing.

Didn't general observance lapse for a while - in the 70s and early 80s?

I was at secondary school between 1962 and 1969 and we always had a special assembly for Armistice Day, including the hymn Oh Valiant Hearts which reduced so many of us to blubbering wrecks - "all they had longed for, all they had, they gave - to save mankind, themselves they scorned to save" - that the RE teacher eventually banned it.

I can't remember any official notice being taken during the 70s when I worked in offices; we were abroad between 79 and 83 and again I can't remember anything when we first came back. I'm wondering if it was the Falklands, or the 50th/70th anniversaries of various significant dates, or both, that brought it back.

The actual 11/11 observance did lapse, in favour of the Remembrance Sunday services, and the British Legion campaigned successfully to bring that back.

Yes, Rememberance Sunday was made more of when I was growing up.
In fact I've been trying to work out how come the 11th of November always seemed to fall on a Sunday - doh!