Forum Topic

Today's 2 minutes silence. 11am 11/11/2010

"Hear,hear" Vanessa. Her new Topic on the ChiswickW4.com Forum..about some Schools not strictly adhering to the 11am timekeeping today reports on further decline in National Pride.Although many events will take place this weekend at many war memorials around the world... the 2 minutes tuyoday has always been engraved in our calendars.Has it not?In times gone by I've seen buses stop and the drivers get out of their cabs and stand bowed in the roadway.We really mustn't forget.  What did you "observe" today?

Jim Lawes ● 5625d8 Comments

Message:How disgraceful and at the same time disturbing Kevin.Let's hope there're no troubles at the weekend.Thankfully our Nation and allies are well served by many people and many institutions who preserve the history and memory of all those sacrifices of the past and currently. Mention of the Somme opens the floodgates of sadness. Can we comprehend the huge losses and the anguish of loved ones left back at home without answers.No wonder there is such proudness when you see the ex-servicemen on their parades. They are proud.After the silence this morning..my letterbox cluttered with arrival of a jiffy bag. What a day to receive the little box inside.It was a military "award" for me! The Armed Forces Veterans Badge for the 2 years National Service in Cyprus and Libya. At least I came back to my parents to tell the tale...and the body in one piece.

Jim Lawes ● 5625d

In Australia the 11/11 is catching on. Lots of places, including my workplace held a minutes silence at 11am.The Australian's also have ANZAC day in April.

Neil Chippendale ● 5625d

Yes, I have visited Thiepval and it is really something, all those war cemeteries are so beautifully kept. I went there with my Mum many years ago, she was only a small child when her father was killed and never really knew him and I think she was the only one of her family ever to visit. I used to work for The Commonwealth War Graves Commission and they helped me find the information about my Grandfather, as we knew barely anything, what I haven't got is any photo or anything. From the CWGC website I have got a picture of Thiepval with all my Grandfather's details, I hope to visit Thiepval again, it is, as you say, almost overwhelming, as are all those reminders of the first World War.

Vanessa Smith ● 5625d

Well said Jim!I hope that this loads up, sorry to spoil the day but I think that is is an absolute disgrace!Poppy-burning Muslim protesters mar Armistice Day commemorations as millions fall silent to remember war deadBy Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 4:16 PM on 11th November 2010Comments (349) Add to My Stories Islamic protesters sparked fury today after they burned a model of a poppy and deliberately broke the silence at Armistice Day commemorations in central London.As millions of Britons fell silent to remember those who have died in war, members of a group called Muslims Against Crusades clashed with police during an 'emergency demonstration' in Kensington, west London.As the clock struck 11am, the Islamic protesters burned a model of a poppy and chanted 'British soldiers burn in hell'.  Inflaming tensions: The Muslim protesters set fire to a poppy near Hyde Park todayEnlarge    Enlarge    They held banners which read 'Islam will dominate' and 'Our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hell'.The Muslims Against Crusades website includes graphic images of children wounded in warfare and the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib. More...Britons fall silent to mark Armistice Day commemorations across the country Two faces of courage: The Marine maimed in Afghanistan and the little girl who lost her daddy All that our children want is Daddy back to wipe away their tears... letters from a wife and a widow of our soldiers Fire chief bans religious service to mark Remembrance day in case it offends non-Christians The protest, in Exhibition Road, near Hyde Park, involved about 50 people while about another 50 counter-demonstrators had to be kept apart from the group by a line of police.Three men were arrested at the scene - two for public order offences and one for assaulting a police officer. Shameful: Muslim protesters break the Armistice Day silence in central London todayRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328703/Remembrance-Day-Poppy-burning-Muslim-protesters-mar-Armistice-Day.html#ixzz150VPXYmc

Kevin Farnan ● 5625d

This is very wrong of the schools.They shopuld be ashamed.Have you been to Thiepval Vanessa?I found it almost overwhelming.

Keith Iddon ● 5625d

I was at home alone - but watched the observance on TV - I thought about the Grandfather I never knew who died on the Somme and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. And I also thought about my Uncle who suffered on the Burma Railway - and these schools couldn't even stop for two minutes - I am furious. Even the kids in the schools were unhappy that this wasn't done at the right time.

Vanessa Smith ● 5625d

Here is the post from the Chiswick Forum:Both my sons work in secondary schools, one in this borough and one in LB Richmond, today being Armistice day The two minutes silence was observed across the country, but not, shamefully in these two places. In one the silence was at 10.55 and in the other 11.30, the reason? It would disrupt the school day! Never mind that whole school in one was disrupted for a visit by a Tory schools Minister last week. All I can say is that both the Heads responsible should think long and hard on the fact that if it were not for the people we are remembering today they might not even be here.  What an appalling example to the students and what an insult to our armed forces.

Vanessa Smith ● 5625d

What did I do?Well thankfully I rembered..I had a note on my table to remind me.What did I think about in those 2 minutes? Good question. I was thinking about poor souls on a sinking troopship going down ..having been hit by something horrid...then I thought of agonies in a prison camp..and since..or all the trauma, and suffering..and broken bodies.What do you think about during a 2 mins silence.I'm unable to post on the W4 forum.. my mobile phone text contributuons get rejected...unlike this forum.)

Jim Lawes ● 5625d