Rememberance Day For Iraq And Afghanistan

[Fran]

Members of families who have lost loved ones or have family serving in Iraq or Afghanistan have designated Saturday November 11th as Iraq and Afghanistan rememberance day.
They have organised a wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph in Whitehall, London at 2pm on that day.
After the ceremony they will be handing in a letter to Tony Blair signed by 500 m,ilitary family members calling for the troops to be brought home.
They are appealing to members of military families, veterans and service people to join them in holding a mintes silence and laying wreaths for all the servicemen and women and civillians killed in Blairs wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anyone in Caithness who has family members in Iraq and afghanistan, or serving anywhere else, can get help and support from SSAFA Forces Help.Send me a pm for details.

[Fluff]

the 11th day of the 11th month is also armistice day which as far as i have been led to belive is to mark ALL service men and women over the years who have served for the british forces.

[golach]

Rememberance Day is the 11th of November, and it is Rememberance Day for all the dead in all the wars, I hope to attend here in Edinburgh as will many of my age group, IMO this fringe Rememberance Day to be held a day earlier, is a slap in the face to us older generations who have attended these special days for many years now. We never held it for any of the Military who were killed in Northern Ireland or Cyprus or Malyasia or for many of the other conflicts our troops have served and died in, so why do it now?

[Fran]

There will be a rememberance Sunday service on the 11th at the cenotaph in thurso.

[JAWS]

This is an obvious attempt to hi-jack Remembrance Day by people with a self-centred, politically motivated agenda.
As such it is cheap and tawdry and an insult to those Service People who have given their lives in the Service of their Country in whichever conflict they were involved.

We do not have Armed Forces which owe affiliation to any Politician or Political Party.
They serve their Country whoever is in Government and we would do well to remember that.

[northener]

Agree with Jaws 100%

I feel sorry for the relatives of anyone caught up in any conflict around the world but it would be worth noting that all our troops chose to join up.

What about the relatives of all those serving men and women who would be against a seperate politically motivated ceremony yet choose to say nothing?

I've no time for anyone who uses a day of international rememberance for their own narrow minded agenda.

Keep politics well away from ceremonies like this. No letters, no lists, no demands, no squawking about who should be doing what and when, etc. etc. etc.

Grrrrrrrrrr!

[Cattach]

This is an obvious attempt to hi-jack Remembrance Day by people with a self-centred, politically motivated agenda.
As such it is cheap and tawdry and an insult to those Service People who have given their lives in the Service of their Country in whichever conflict they were involved.

We do not have Armed Forces which owe affiliation to any Politician or Political Party.
They serve their Country whoever is in Government and we would do well to remember that.

Remebrance Day should be for all lost in war. As for the families of military who now want to pull the troops out they should remember that they and their families gladly accepted the 'Queens Shilling'. People who sign up cannot sign up for a life away from conflict, that is what being a soldier is all about. They also must have known that they might be sent somewhere dangerous in the World - if not Iraq then somewhere else.
If you take the money yoy take your chance!

[Doug Country]

Remebrance Day should be for all lost in war. As for the families of military who now want to pull the troops out they should remember that they and their families gladly accepted the 'Queens Shilling'. People who sign up cannot sign up for a life away from conflict, that is what being a soldier is all about. They also must have known that they might be sent somewhere dangerous in the World - if not Iraq then somewhere else.
If you take the money yoy take your chance!

When you hear of a British Serviceman being killed in the line of duty do you cry out "Serves him right, thinking he could get money for nothing"??? What an unbelievable attitude.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing", I can see that you'd be quite happy to sit back and do nothing, but someone has to go out to protect the country's interests.

Should we have let the Argentinians occupy the Falklands?

[Buttercup]

[quote=Doug Country;157751]When you hear of a British Serviceman being killed in the line of duty do you cry out "Serves him right, thinking he could get money for nothing"??? What an unbelievable attitude.[quote]


Sorry Doug Country, but I didn't read that into Cattach's post at all, maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that is what was even hinted at! Loss of life is nothing to cheer about but I have to agree with Cattach here. When you join the forces don't you expect to be involved in conflict? Isn't that what they train for? After all, nobody forced them to enlist, they picked their job just like everyone else, didn't they?

[brokencross]

I can appreciate the families of those who have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan wanting to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph, without the nation watching on TV and the large crowds, because their grief is still very raw.

However, the handing in of a letter to Downing Street does not really seem appropriate at the time when we are remembering those lost in all wars.

Also any wreaths laid on Saturday will be removed before the official Rememberance Day service to be held on Sunday, so maybe a wreath laid at their local war memorial would be a more fitting gesture.

[Kenn]

Like most people I have always observed this particuliar ceremony and although I make no excuses for being a pacifist as a result of the horrific stories that my father told me, being amongst the troops that entered Belsen/Bergen if people feel that they need to make a personal gesture then surely they should have the right to do so.
I would however say as have many others that this day is to remember all those who fought and died to preserve our freedoms in the many battlefields of this world both ancient and modern.
To denigrate them as takers of "The King's Shilling," is to me an insult.
My father had no choice and for those that volunteer for The Armed Forces they should be applauded, they do not know where they will have to serve but they do the best they can often under very difficult circumstances.
Aim your dissention at the politicians who engage in these matters and not the service man who has to carry out his dutiy..

[northener]

Lizz,

When I and others commented on the fact that our troops have all joined up willingly, it wasn't meant to be a slur.

The point being made is that if you join a military unit then you have to expect the possibility of the worst situation. There are those who will try, for their own political ends, to portray casualties as hapless victims in a situation that they were forced into reluctantly. Thats the bit I don't like.

Brit forces have an excellent way of summing up any extremely dangerous situation:

" If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined up."

[mareng]

Rememberance Day is the 11th of November, and it is Rememberance Day for all the dead in all the wars, I hope to attend here in Edinburgh as will many of my age group, IMO this fringe Rememberance Day to be held a day earlier, is a slap in the face to us older generations who have attended these special days for many years now. We never held it for any of the Military who were killed in Northern Ireland or Cyprus or Malyasia or for many of the other conflicts our troops have served and died in, so why do it now?


I was going to say that I thought Remebrance Day was to commemorate those allies that perished during the two World Wars only, but I see from the internet that it is all wars, including the Falklands War, the Gulf War, and conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo?

Sadly - I also picked up one listing in Google "armisticeday.com" which leads to a search engine for retailers. If that isn't insulting - I don't know what is.

The list of retailers includes Great Universal, Littlewoods Online, Butlins, and BMIBaby.

I assume that each of these companies pays to be listed with this particular search engine (not Google, I hasten to add).

THEY MUST BE REAL PROUD OF THEMSELVES.