A question for everybody. How many had family the fought in WWI? What did they do? Did they survive?

I've been re-kindling my interest in WWI. I bought the video series "The First World War" (Channel 4)

My Dad's side of the family got out of Europe right before the War started (Austrio-Hungary) and moved to Brasil.

I shall note the two minute silence tomorrow and on Sunday as well.

Thanks for re-posting that.:salute: I remember when you posted it originally.

My Great-Grandfather James Milne was Master-at-Arms on the HMHS Brittanic:

http://www.titanic-whitestarships.co...0Britannic.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Britannic

Luckily he survived her sinking. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be here!

No photo of him though.:cry:

Don't know about the rest of the family.

Mike.

My maternal Grandfather died for King and Country 24 October 1918 - killed by influenza while waiting to be posted to a front line battalion from the Canadian Expeditionary Force replacement pool in France.

Mom was born the following May and Grandmother was denied her meager widow's pension as he had not died in combat.

Perhaps the most pointless, futile, ill-managed and far-reaching war since 1648 and maybe since ancient times; one where the consequences continue to haunt us even today. We should never forget but we should also strive to understand what happened without glorifying or romanticizing the thing.

/rant

What a pitiful country I live in. People can't be bothered to remember something as unimportant as the First World War. All they care about is drinking themselves half dead on a Friday. I realise that we fought on the loosing side, but that doesn't mean that our boys died in vain, especially if you consider that a third of all Slovenians were forced to live under Italy, which soon turned in a fascist regime. There is always a small group of older gentlemen that try to commemorate the fallen, but that's about it. Considering that we have an excellent Isonzo front museum, one would think there was more interest.

In any case, I try and pay my respects to the fallen on my own.

Check my previous posts Jason.

:salute:

Better late than never.
http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/index.c...4E547D84B2D5CB

Credit to such a detailed list and page Trib,:up:

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
We will remember them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7av6mgdeCkY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbw1pGUhG7Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEY6LcZFtXc

Adieu la vie, adieu l'amour,
Adieu toutes les femmes.
C'est bien fini, c'est pour toujours,
De cette guerre infâme.
C'est à Craonne, sur le plateau,
Qu'on doit laisser sa peau
Car nous sommes tous condamnés
C'est nous les sacrifiés !

HunterICX

I've a little wet home in a trench,
where the rainstorms continually drench.
There's a dead cow nearby, her feet aimed towards the sky,
And she gives off a terrible stench.

Underneath, in the place of a floor
There's a mass of wet mud and some straw.
But with shells dropping there, there's no place to compare
With my little wet home in the trench.

The World wasn't made in a day
And Eve didn't ride on a bus
But most of the world's in a sandbag
And the rest of it's plastered on us

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What sublime emotion inspires you at the moment of the assault?
I think of nothing other than dragging my feet out of the mud that encases them.
What did you feel after surviving the attack?
I grumbled because I would have to remain in the line without wine.
Is not ones first act to kneel down and give thanks to God?
No. One relieves himself.

Raymond Joubert

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In case of bad weather, the battle will be conducted indoors.
Notice posted in a German dugout at Verdun

---------------------------------------
GOOD-MORNING; good-morning, the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of em dead,
And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
He's a cheery old card, grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
. . . .
But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

Siegfried Sassoon

Lest We Forget...