tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post1769976920668917351..comments2024-02-10T03:14:06.389-05:00Comments on Shell Shock Serenade: If We Let HIMthormoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14453569102275795203noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-76867884100533517252011-04-04T17:25:44.298-04:002011-04-04T17:25:44.298-04:00SG-You're right about the younger generations....SG-You're right about the younger generations...here in the States it seems like our education system teaches little to no history anymore. I don't believe most 15 year olds know what the Great War even was or when/where it was fought.<br /><br />I will say this though, when I went to France/Belgium to visit all the battlefields (twice actually) there were a lot of young people with their parents/grand parents and I think in Europe they still think about it mor.<br /><br />Also we met some awesome Canadian Students at Vimy and Newfoundland Park who were there working as part of their University Degree. They were great: smart, motivated, intelligent, committed and really fun/helpful. I guess they do 6-12 month "tours" at those National Monuments. Both of those places are officially Canadian Soil in France. Just like the cemeteries all are...really cool stuff.<br /><br />I took a ton of pics at Vimy but they were not digital and the X has them which is a real bummer. I've shown some of the pics from Newfoundland Park here on the blog.thormoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123682411248034307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-77448998766674521792011-04-04T16:22:43.318-04:002011-04-04T16:22:43.318-04:00Thanks for the description of the Vimy Ridge Memor...Thanks for the description of the Vimy Ridge Memorial. After I read that I was thinking how haunting it would be to be standing there while a lone piper plays. I know very little, but even with the limited knowledge that I do have, it does not take me much to fully grasp the enormity of things. Sadly it seems that the generation that follows cares to know nothing of it.Spockgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12157257995250966351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-23009154254315858272011-04-04T14:39:41.971-04:002011-04-04T14:39:41.971-04:00SG- I've been to Vimy Ridge and the Canadian W...SG- I've been to Vimy Ridge and the Canadian War Memorial there...just sunning.<br /><br />The gigantic pillars reaching to the sky. On the backside of the monument (facing the German Lines) there is Mother Canada looking down to the ground (perhaps a 100ft drop) as if weeping, on the ground is a tomb with a sword and Canadian Helmet on top...very moving as well.<br /><br />At Vimy, they have left the earth exactly as it was at the end of the war...for miles it's covered with shell holes (now covered in grass). They also preserved miles of tunnels in which the troops sheltered from German shell fire for weeks before going into action. I toured them, amazing.<br /><br />On the Somme Battlefield is of course Newfoundland Park with it's preserved trenches and shell holes in remembrance to what happened to those Lads on the hot 1st of July Day in 1916 when thousands were cut down with out gaining a single YARD.<br /><br />All around the Belgium town of Ypres are memorials to Canadians, at 1st Ypres the Germans used Poison Gas for the first time against (you guessed it, men from Canada). <br /><br />So I have seen first hand why Canada does not forget what happened in the Great War just like France, Like Germany, Like Britain and Australia plus many more. Those countries lost a whole generation of their men to the Death and Mud of the Western Front...terribly Sad....thormoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123682411248034307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-91288351828242063642011-04-04T14:18:03.179-04:002011-04-04T14:18:03.179-04:00I have a thing for old books, so your Grandma'...I have a thing for old books, so your Grandma's bookcase would have been a treasure trove to me.<br /><br />"Canadians have a much different perspective and reverence towards the Great War..." I couldn't agree more.Spockgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12157257995250966351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-10099577112841454682011-04-04T07:20:08.519-04:002011-04-04T07:20:08.519-04:00I have always like Grenfell's "Into Battl...I have always like Grenfell's "Into Battle" as well and Strange Meeting" is another Fav of mine. I have just always been drawn to Great War Poetry and my Grandmother is responsible...she always recited a poem before dinner and I discovered a collection of Great war works in her book case. She really encouraged it.<br /><br />I have long noticed that Americans no very little about the Great War. Fact is, American Soldiers only actively fought in the last 9 months of the war. Though causalities were severe, they were small compared to those of the English (and Dominions), French and the Germans.<br /><br />Canadians have a much different perspective and reverence towards the Great War because they lost the cream of that generation on the Western Front. In the States, most folks have no idea what happened in that war and how it impacted the war that followed (which everyone knows about).thormoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123682411248034307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-853682237352618533.post-79630755390226008272011-04-04T00:33:01.109-04:002011-04-04T00:33:01.109-04:00"Some say God caught them before they fell.&q..."Some say God caught them before they fell." Would have been a comfort to read that line way back when.<br /><br />I used to have a book of poems that were written by soldiers during WWI... I read it a number of times and I very much would have liked to have kept it, but gave it to my bro as a gift one year. The way my memory works, I can't remember much now, but I was particularly fond of Julian Grenfell's "Into Battle". Last year I was re-introduced to Wilfred Owen and was drawn to "Strange Meeting". At some point I would like to revisit that collection of poems.Spockgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12157257995250966351noreply@blogger.com