11/11 ...[11.00am, EDST, Australia]

Lest we forget.

from WinCustomize Forums

No Man's Land - by Eric Bogle

Well, how'd you do, Private Willie McBride,
D'you mind if I sit 'ere down by your graveside?
And I'll rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walkin' all day, Lord, and I'm nearly done.
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well I hope you died quick and I hope you died "clean,"
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
CHORUS:
Did they beat the drums slowly, did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always nineteen?
Or are you a stranger, without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
CHORUS:
Did they beat the drums slowly, did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

Well, the sun's shining now on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land;
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
CHORUS:
Did they beat the drums slowly, did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

And I can't help but wonder now, Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "the cause?"
You really believe that this war would end wars?
The suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame,
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it's all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
CHORUS:
Did they beat the drums slowly, did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing "Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

Did the bugles sing "Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

1,869 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
1918 - My grandfather, Henry Joseph Larkin, USMC, about to head "Over There"
A Massachusetts Yank-- He made it back and also served in WWII

So very young...
Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
John Singer Sargent's painting Gassed in the Imperial War Museum, London
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We will remember them all forever where ever they fought...
My Dad and my husband are both Viet Nam vets and I thank them and all who
are in Iraq now fighting for our freedoms.....
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
God bless all those who fight for freedom. Nice thread, Jafo!
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Today I witnessed something truly awe-inspiring.

In the centre of bustling and busy Cairns, Australia... [a tourist mecca] ...

...at the appointed time, I was just stepping out of the bank into a pedestrian mall.

I walked out to see hundreds of people, who at any other time would have been going about their busy day.

Instead ...not one of those people moved an inch, and all had heads bowed ...in remembrance.

Even visitors from other countries observed the silence, without questioning why.

Today ...I shed a tear for the fallen, whilst at the same time my heart swelled with pride for my fellow man.

Thankyou ...to all who observed that silence, and respected the fallen heroes.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

ONLY NINETEEN - Redgum

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal
It was a long march from cadets
The sixth battalion was the next to tour
and it was me who drew the card
We did Canungra and Shoal Water before we left

And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the quay
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean
And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens
God help me I was only nineteen

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months
But we made our tents a home, VB, and pinups on the lockers
And an Asian Orange sunset though the scrub

And can you tell me doctor why I still can't get to sleep
And why nighttime's just a jungle dark and a barking M16
And what's this rash that comes and goes can you tell me what it means
God help me, I was only nineteen

A four week operation every step could be your last one on two legs;
It was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down till they had you dusted off
so you closed your eyes and thought about something else

Then someone yelled out "contact" and a bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours then a god almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon
God help me, he was going home in June

I can still see Frankie lying drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still see Frankie lying screaming in the jungle
till the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me I was only nineteen

And can you tell me doctor why I still can't get to sleep
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet
And what's this rash that comes and goes can you tell me what it means
God help me, I was only nineteen..