Remembrance Sunday
As tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday here in the UK, I would like to draw a particular song to everyone's attention. 'Hero' (a version of the Mariah Carey song) is sung by the X factor Finalists and proceeds from the CD sales will go to the charity for wounded servicemen and women 'Help For Heroes'. You all know this cause has a special place in my heart and I ask if those who are able could find it in their hearts to buy the CD and support our Forces in their hour of need. The song can be seen on YouTube at..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JV8lPKNXmc but the actual CD has a very moving video too. Of course, this is a British cause, but I'm sure there is a similar or corresponding cause in most countries. All are in need. :The General:

Stevie that is great. If the Cd is available in Belgium I will buy him. By the way X-factor is also on television in Belgium. The final is on December the 17th. Remembrance Day is also here this weekend in Belgium with Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of Word War I on 11 November 11 1918. It is a holliday in many of allied nations. This year it will be the 90th Anniversary of Armistice Day. My mother's father, who I have not known, has fought in this war. He was twenty years old when he became a soldier. And he survived the war. My mother has always heard that he was a hero. He fought in the front line in the West of Belgium. One day the queen from Belgium, queen Elisabeth visited the trenchs. My grandfather was sleeping as he was exhausted. The queen touched his shoulder and my grandfather thought it was his friend who shoke him awake. He called : mate let me sleep. And then he saw it was the queen. He had a nice talk with her and she comforted him and the other soldiers. And they had courage again. This weekend there are a lot of English visitors and many the hotels are fully booked. They come to Belgium to visit the English graveyards ( about 155 ) and remember their beloved family who died in this War.

I'll look for the CD and buy it, Stevie. Remembrance Day is celebrated in France on the same day it is celebrated in Belgium, that is 11 November. Unfortunately, the anniversary of the end of WWI goes almost unnoticed in Italy.

Stevie, That is a very nice gesture on the part of the Producers and Cast of the show X-Factor. We don't have it here, though American Idol is produced by Simon Cowell. It does seem that he is very involved in projects that help the Service Men and Women. I will certainly be thinking about your son's committment and his willingness to serve in the Armed Forces on this day. We celebrate Veterans Day on the 11th, though many events happen on the Sunday before. And of course, my personal favorite, the Marine Corps Birthday on the 10th. Marthe - what a wonderful story to be told about your Grandfather and a great thing to remember about him.

Marthe, I was so touched by your lovely story about your grandfather. I hope all of us appreciate enough the efforts and sacrifices made by those who served,and are serving,their countries. We owe each of them so much,and sometimes just saying "thank you" seems like so little to offer.

Veterans groups sell poppies here sometimes, too.

Thank you all for your touching suport for all our 'boys' past and present. Marthe - what a wondeful family story to treasure. My own grandfather served in the Machine Gun Core as an eighteen year old for the final year of WW1. The experience was said to have affected him badly, and on return he could not settle and although he served in the Police Force for years, his flashbacks never left him and he unfortunately passed on his trouble in violence. The legacy of damage that any War leaves behind is far greater than the dead and I believe that continuing to remember is the finest way we can pay tribute. I am watching the memorial service at the Cenetaph in London (to include the two minutes silence that marks the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month when the guns finally fell silent in France in the 'war to end all wars') There is the London Welsh male voice choir, Scottish pipers and the massed bands of the Grenadier Guards, Royal Marines, and RAF. Actors such as Benedict Cumbernatch are reading from moving poems.Three survivors of WW1 - all well over 100yrs old are laying wreaths. It is very moving and a great comfort to know that should my worst nightmare happen - as this time next year my own eighteen year old son will be serving on the frontline in Afghanistan with the Coldstream Guards - the sacrifice will be remembered. Ah, but listen to me going on! What a maudlin old bag I am! Thank you all for your touching friendship and support! :hug Stevie

Thanks girls for loving the story of my grandfather. Stevie, you are not a maudlin old bag. You are a very good mother and you love your son. I should also be very worried if my sons should leave for Afghanistan. Here is a picture of my grandfather : proud Petrus ( it is a pic from an old pic)

I can only imagine how proud you both must be of your loved ones,and I salute them with my heart and my thoughts. Love, Ship (Marthe--I just LOVE those old photographs so much! How handsome he looks there!!)

Matie, I agree - those old photos are so evocative! I'm going to dig out and scan some of mine.

That is a great picture, Marthe. He looks so proud as well he should be.

Thanks Ship, Stevie and Gaff. The picture is not so very good but you can indeed see how proud he was. Stevie I love to see your pictures. Your grandfather was also so young in that terrible war. My grandfather has not been hurted during WOI. He has not served in WOII. He was a farmer and had 5 children. My mother was the eldest. During that war my grandfather got cancer of te throat. Every month he had to go to Antwerp for a treatment. But then there was a bombardment in Antwerp. That day he was there.The orphans'house was very dammaged and there were a lot of children who died in that bombardment. My grandfather was witness of those atrocities. He, who was always so brave and courageous, became so frightened. He was a broken man. He never went back to Antwerp for a treatment and died at home in 1945, surrounded by his wife and children. My mother was 15, her youngest sister was 9. I am always moved to tears when my mother talks about it. And I have a lot of respect for her. She was 15, she had to look after her brothers and sisters, and help her mother on the farm. She has never had the chance to study. Wars are so terrible. I have never been in a war, but when I think of all the people who were victime of a war, I feel so sorry and I thank God that I was not there but at the same time I ask myself why some people have to be in those terrible wars ? And there is no answer.