They shall grow not old
They shall grow not 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
From Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, written in September 1914
12 comments:
Julia, that quotation complements the Kohima (Burma) epitaph:-
"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kohima
And this year, I shall raise a "Tot" to absent friends, in memory still bright...
Comment from Penseivat, which I'm unable to retrieve from the Spam Folder (WTF, Blogger..!?) but which, luckily, is copied by email:
"After attending a local remembrance parade, returned home and watched recording of the ceremony at Whitehall. You must admit, The Queen, Phillip, and the rest of the Royals (apart from Edward) really do us proud on occasions like this. Ignored Dave, Cleggy, and Gromit as you knew they did not want to be there. What really annoyed me, though, was seeing Tom "Walter Mitty" Winsor in his Ruritanian Police Chief's uniform. He may be the Chief Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary but he has never been a Police officer and should not be allowed to wear a uniform which gives the impression he is. After all, he never wore a train driver's uniform when he was Rail Regulator (at least, not outside the bedroom). He'll be awarding himself the QPM next.What a tosser!"
What a classy sacrifice it was for the 'Windsors' to abandon the name Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, in order to lead our annual outpouring of public grief for those we lost fighting Germans.
What Penseivat said. We have all heard stories about the local Walter Mitty character wearing impossible medals at these events. This the same thing.
In the past HMCIs have been ex Police Chiefs, who after 30 yrs or more doing the job are entitled to wear the uniform.
Whether or not Winsor who has never served in the Police should be an HMCI is one question, whether or not he should be allowed to wear fancy dress is quite another.
And unlike all the previous HMCIs, Winsor has no medals, which makes him look even more like the oldest trainee in town..
Don't forget the Japanese, Melv. Or, would you prefer your real name of Mariko Takimoto Gerremoffiko.
Penseivat
@ Penise.
I will always identify myself when I am critical of others because other conduct is cowardly and plod-like.
I also take pains to be accurate and mature. Were it not for your inbred pettiness, you might have checked the uniform 'facts' before hastily abusing Remembrance Sunday with your puerile posting.
Went on the Ring of Red where about 7500 of us bikers dressed in red and did a ring round the M25 to make a giant poppy, Google were supposed to get a satellite picture of it but not seen it yet.
Was quite impressive to be on a run of that size let me tell you, needless to say the Beeb took no interest, presumably since we couldn't tell them how many pigfuckers, oops, muslims, took part. That would be nil by the way.
In addition to the poem, and the Budhhist one referenced:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by...
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
Battle of Thermopylae
Melv,
I am aware of the 'facts' regarding the uniform but still feel that Winsor has as much right to wear a Police style uniform as you have to wear a tutu and appear with the Royal Ballet. As far as inbred pettiness is concerned, during my military service I lost friends and colleagues in Borneo, Aden, Northern Ireland and the Falklands. I don't need Remembrance Day to remember them. I do this every day of my life. I attend Remembrance Day commemorations to pay my respect, not only for those I knew, but for those I didn't, and whose sacrifice allows me the opportunity to free speech, whether verbal or in writing. The fact that you and I are able to spar on a fairly regular basis, is due to those sacrifices. I make no attempt to belittle the occasion and would not wish to. If it appeared that I did, then I have no hesitation in apologising profusely. I sincerely hope that you and yours never have to experience what those fallen did.
Penseivat
Robert,
Kudos to you, my friend, and your participants. The fact that the Beeb failed to mention it may be because it did not fit in with their political 'neutrality' - i.e. it was full of white people paying respect to those who gave their lives in a manner which did not fit in with the multi-cultural, ethnic enhancing, image they seek to promote. Never met you, but would certainly buy you a beer if I did.
Penseivat
"...which makes him look even more like the oldest trainee in town.."
Heh!
"Went on the Ring of Red where about 7500 of us bikers dressed in red and did a ring round the M25 to make a giant poppy..."
Splendid! :) I heard about that. Via the net, of course :/
Robert the Biker,
Found this on 'getsurrey'
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/bikers-create-remembrance-ring-red-6291520
Penseivat
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