Posted by "F. A." <zzzzzzz@telusplanet.net> on Sat, 11 Nov 2000 09:42:16 -0700
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John,
Very well put! Let us never forget.
Francois
Gow wrote:
> I feel priviledged to be a Canadian...somehow our nation finds it
> possible to do what nobody really wants to do, but everyone needs to
> do, and anyone could help with..and so few Canadians seem to give it a
> thought...but perhaps today, we might think... So on 11 November, I
> remember my Grandfather, a member of the "Suicide Battalion" and
> others..his stories, not easily granted from him..of the Somme,
> Ypres, Passchendale, and Vimy..how I, as a very impressionable and
> you will gather, not particularly bright youth, sat and listened, if
> and when he spoke..at Passchendale, digging hard to make a trench a
> "dud" shell landing six feet away picking it up and hurling it down
> the hill, and watching it explode at the bottom of the slope yet
> enduring scars on the hands forever...strapping a piss soaked scarf
> from home around your mouth and nose at Ypres, so as to avert the
> effects of the gas, for about a day and a half...of being advised at
> the Somme that their battalion was "reserve", and spending the night
> digging a big trench, overhead cover, sleeping mount etc and being
> shaken awake at 0400, because the casualties were so bad the reserves
> were being committed to save the French..of being the acting CQ of the
> company at Vimy, and saying "of 130 men who charged up that hill, at
> noon, there were three of us on the top without wounds"..on a lighter
> side, of being caught in a bombardment, while bringing up the
> company‘s rum issue, with a buddy, and retiring to the forward trench
> position to enjoy their "ill gotten" gains...and being faced with a
> German attack...so fight through it how fast you grow sober, he
> said and being "mentioned" no medals for this. Come back to
> Canada...where you really had nothing... but, as he put it, a
> chance...because in the "Old Country" you were already pegged at what
> you could, and would, be..to the Influenza
> Epidemic...unemployment....lack of real progress and unrecoginitian of
> the veteran..there were so many of them..and then Round Two, WWII,
> where your kids had to go back... So he told my Dad and my Uncle
> "Anything but the Infantry"..as a Father, you cannot blame him..it
> takes balls to be Infantryand when you have kids, you understand
> horrible costs....but..... My Dad was the oldest...was/is pretty
> technically smart, joined the Air Force, volunteered into India, of
> all places..after drinking five gallons of water to meet minimum
> weight requirements remember this was the "Dirty Thirties", people on
> the Prairies were starving, and relying on Maritimers that sent dried
> salt cod as "relief"nail it to a pine plank, soak it overnight in a
> bathtuib, discard the fish, boil the plank, and eat it, was his
> advice, having endured it Came back ten pounds lighter than his
> initial weight trying to qualify to join...won‘t go into what he found
> there.... Just, on this day 11 November, REMEMBER! These are
> indicative of the people that made our country... Our enjoyment of
> that country remains at their cost... There does seem blood on my
> Poppy... John
--------------0C8302C2AA393890BC0D8494
John,
Very well put! Let us never
forget.
Francois
Gow wrote:
I feel priviledged
to be a Canadian...somehow our nation finds it possible to do what nobody
really wants to do, but everyone needs to do, and anyone could help with..and
so few Canadians seem to give it a thought...but perhaps today, we might
think...So on 11 November, I remember my Grandfather,
a member of the "Suicide Battalion" and others..his stories, not easily
granted from him..of the Somme, Ypres, Passchendale, and Vimy..how I, as
a very impressionable and you will gather, not particularly bright youth,
sat and listened, if and when he spoke..at Passchendale, digging hard to
make a trench a "dud" shell landing six feet away picking it up and hurling
it down the hill, and watching it explode at the bottom of the slope yet
enduring scars on the hands forever...strapping a piss soaked scarf from
home around your mouth and nose at Ypres, so as to avert the effects of
the gas, for about a day and a half...of being advised at the Somme that
their battalion was "reserve", and spending the night digging a big trench,
overhead cover, sleeping mount etc and being shaken awake at 0400, because
the casualties were so bad the reserves were being committed to save the
French..of being the acting CQ of the company at Vimy, and saying "of 130
men who charged up that hill, at noon, there were three of us on the top
without wounds"..on a lighter side, of being caught in a bombardment, while
bringing up the company‘s rum issue, with a buddy, and retiring to the
forward trench position to enjoy their "ill gotten" gains...and being faced
with a German attack...so fight through it how fast you grow sober,
he said and being "mentioned" no medals for this.Come
back to Canada...where you really had nothing... but, as he put it, a chance...because
in the "Old Country" you were already pegged at what you could, and would,
be..to the Influenza Epidemic...unemployment....lack of real progress and
unrecoginitian of the veteran..there were so many of them..and then Round
Two, WWII, where your kids had to go back...So
he told my Dad and my Uncle "Anything but the Infantry"..as a Father,
you cannot blame him..it takes balls to be Infantryand when you have kids,
you understand horrible costs....but..... My Dad was the oldest...was/is
pretty technically smart, joined the Air Force, volunteered into India,
of all places..after drinking five gallons of water to meet minimum weight
requirements remember this was the "Dirty Thirties", people on the Prairies
were starving, and relying on Maritimers that sent dried salt cod as "relief"nail
it to a pine plank, soak it overnight in a bathtuib, discard the
fish, boil the plank, and eat it, was his advice, having endured it
Came back ten pounds lighter than his initial weight trying to qualify
to join...won‘t go into what he found there....Just,
on this day 11 November, REMEMBER!These are
indicative of the people that made our country...Our
enjoyment of that country remains at their cost...There
does seem blood on my Poppy...John
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