Remembrance

Special Remembrance for our Soldiers and their loved ones. Celebrated once a year, although honoured every moment of every day for all time ... love Carman

[Bill Mulholland]

Well said Carman.
Cheers, Bill

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

I was a guest speaker at the Kangaroos' annual reunion on Saturday, and I'll be marching with Kangaroo Tpr Art Bell and his Legion mates tomorrow at three different small-town gatherings north of London.

Bless these fellows, I love them so.

[RHClarke]

It always is good to see Ottawa MV collectors participating in local events. Pictured is the Swords and Ploughshares Museum's Ford LAAT and Six-Pounder.

Special thanks to Chris for the assistance!

[Keith Webb]

Sadly our remembrance day was blighted by two lots of protesters - one was a trade union rally and the other a women against war protest at the Shrine of Remembrance.
The union leader likened themselves to veterans by suggesting they were at war with the government, which not surprisingly drew the ire of many both in the press and talkback radio.
I can't say I'm surprised the bystanders called the protesters a disgrace - to politicise or push their own message on a solemn remembrance service is an absolute disgrace and shows an unbelievable level of ignorance and disrespect.
At least a couple of the potential protesters recognised the true meaning of the occasion.

Here's a quote from today's Melbourne Age Newspaper:

" Nothing could overshadow Remembrance Day, not even a protest at the Shrine by Women for Peace, nor a CFMEU rally in Flinders Street.


The eight Women for Peace activists did not disrupt the service, but not long before 11am they chanted anti-war slogans, angering bystanders who lunged at them, shouting "you are a disgrace".


A scuffle broke out, with a policeman being punched in the stomach. Two protesters were arrested and are to be charged on summons with breach of peace, hindering police and other related charges.


The CFMEU's rally saw 10,000 people protest against the Howard Government's industrial policies - and pause for a moment's silence.


But not all unionists agreed with the rally's timing. Dave and Roy boycotted it to pay their respects at the Shrine. "We believe the day's all about the guys that actually fought for this country - not union muscle," Dave said. "If those guys didn't put their life on the line for us, there would be no union."


RSL president Major-General David McLachlan said the CFMEU was disrespectful for protesting yesterday, but "if they all bought a poppy and observed the silence, then maybe it was a good outcome".


He stopped short of condemning the union, saying November 11 was a reminder of the fundamental right of all Australians to protest if they wished. "That's one of the tenets of the freedom of our society that the people we are remembering died for," he said.


Federal Workplace Minister Kevin Andrews called the rally offensive and said that Remembrance Day "should not be politicised".


But Victoria's Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard pointed out that Remembrance Day also commemorated the dismissal of the Labor government of Gough Whitlam in 1975 and was, accordingly, an appropriate day of protest for the labour movement. "

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Disgraceful, Keefy... I just hope your people there let these organizations know their thoughts.

If these bastards could walk the foreign cemeteries as I have, they wouldn't act this way... but just ask them if they would stage a violent demonstration against religion outside a church on a Sunday. It's no different. Our Fallen are holy, and it's their blood which has given them the right to demonstrate in the first place.

My day was good, three parades in front of three small cenotaphs. Not many out for it, but enough.

I'm all for peace too because of what war does to people and life but we're not there yet and it's always struck me, so very obviously, how "blind" these "peace activists" can be ... example:

They don't see that they are contradicting and defeating their own goals and desires to create peace by their methods of creating anger and violence, and even wars, to get their point across and try and "force" peace to happen.

I once read in some book somewhere ... something along the lines of... "People who hate war will not bring world peace. People who love peace will bring world peace" ... and I add to that ... YEAH... BUT ... only if all people in the whole world, every individual, believed and felt the same way.

We ain't there yet, and it may well be centuries, or milleniums, before this could ever happen ...

meanwhile ... back in the "IS" of life ... its really sad that peoples organized ceremonies to grieve and honour their loved fallen soldiers and losses .... . is futilely, and disrespectfully, disturbed and ruined by "MILITANT WARLIKE ACTIVISTS"

Damn ... I wish these ceremonies had a circle of national gaurd or something ... solid impenetrable line circled around the ceremonies and gatherers... circled way far backwhere the shouts and BS can't be heard or seen ... and the ceremony can be what it is meant to be for everyone there.

Sorry for the long post ... I just had lots of thots to reply.

XXX Carman

[DaveCox]

In my local town centre yesterday everything stopped for 2 minutes at 11:00 - even the big stores stopped their cash registers, buses stopped - quiet , in respect for those that fell for our freedom. It was good to see, and to be there. Even the TV & radio stations stop and stay quiet for that time.

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
. . . at three different small-town gatherings north of London.

Oh, that'd be Hemel Hemstead, St. Albans and Hatfield; you should have called me.

R.