I look forward to doing my part to exterminate the red menace tonight in honor of our nations fallen.

Or something like that.

Thank you to all who have served.

Veterans day means a lot to me. I''ve always been proud to thank each serviceman I have encountered for the freedoms I have. There is no greater sign of love that risking one''s life for those you do not know, for their rights and their beliefs, even if you disagree with them.

I know men in Iraq, I have friends who have family serving currently and my family boasts quite a few servicemen I''m proud to say from past wars.

To those on this forum who have served, to those who are currently away in dangerous places, unable to see this and to those with a headstone bearing only a name, I offer my most sincere gratitude to you this day and every day.

Thank you.

Having been to various war cemetaries in France and Belgium about 7 years ago, I can tell you that Armistace/Remembrance/Veterans day takes on a special significance. Even for someone who never lived through those events or has ever served in the armed forces, someone like me.

Seeing Tyne Cott, Vimy Ridge, the Somme memmorial, the Menin gate in Ypres, as well as various trenches and other roll memorials, put all the sombre ceremony and pride in real perspective. Each one containing the remains of 10,000s of soldiers in neat well cared for grave rows of military precision. Each with individual headstones with the name, unit, date of death and a eulogy motto embossed into the stone. Some without any names.

Most heart breaking of all was probably an ossuary in northern France near the river Somme which held the bones of about 20,000 Frenchmen in colossal open vaults. An atmosphere of deep reverance and sorrow seemed to saturate the air itself in that place, very eerie, very quiet.
I shudder to think what Verdun must be like and how fundamentally important these places are to their respective nations. Especially given that artifacts and more remains of these events are still dug up every autumn by farmers ploughing their fields.

While there I also had the honour of visiting a German cemetary on the other side of the lines, which sadly was much less opulant or maintained then their allied opposites. But a touching experience for the lack of it.
Remarkably much of the damage had been done by Nazi troops during the WW2 occupation when they took chisels to the Jewish soldiers headstones.

In a trip to Russia some time later I visited the St Petersburg siege museum and WW2 memorials which showed some of the bravery in the face of horror that civilians went through too. Absolutely dire would be the only way of describing those times for them.

Whenever we reach the 11/11 of the year I always remember my trips to these places and try to observe the 2 mins silence.

Its the absolute minimum one can do once a year. To remember the sacrifice of past generations in those terrible years and donate for poppies to help the British Legion support future veterans in recognition of achievements to come.

""Lest we forget.""