Veterans Day
#1
I want to thank all of the veterans that have kept people free all over the world. Many made the ultimate sacrifice so we could have the freedoms we value so much.
THANK YOU
   
My dad served on LST 830 in the Pacific. He was a Coast Guardsman. I had 2 uncles that were also sailors.
Charlie
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#2
In Canada November 11 is Remembrance Day. Leading up to it there are many events that help turn our attention to our fallen and Veterans.

For me, it brings back memories of the stories my Uncle Al would tell me. The summer 1976 I had gone up to a town called Kaslo in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, to help him build his house. I was nineteen. Though we had spent thousands of hours together fishing on Kootenay lake he had hardly ever mentioned the war when we were together. Often while out fishing or when we were building his new house, a blank stare would come over his face and I knew he had slipped back to the horrors he had faced, but I never knew the details.

As the days and weeks passed the house went up and that stare would often be there. One day during a lunch break he just opened up with a horror story that occurred two days after he landed on Juno beach on D-Day. It involved the loss of his two best friends he had been with since he had signed up in 1939. Many other stories soon followed and I really learned a lot about where his mind would travel to when that blank stare would return to his face.

He signed up in 1939 when Canada declared war and immediately was sent to Europe. He finally got home in the fall of 1945. He had a very close family and had not seen them in over six years.

He had a good life after he got home even though he was often pulled back to a time he would rather forget.

He was my hero.
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#3
I had an uncle that was in the Navy during WWII. Back then we didn't have TV, but we use to go to Saturday matinee movies and we had newsreels in between the movies. The news was usually about the war, and there was one shot showing a navy gunner on a ship and it was him. It didn't last long but enough to be sure of who it was. We all need to be proud and remember what all these people did for us, their ranks are dwindling, but those that are still here need to know that we remember and appreciate the sacrifices they made for our countries...
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#4
During the Canadian Battlefield tour in Nov.2009,our tour stopped at the Canadian War Cemetery in Adegem Belgium.One of the ladies on this tour was visiting Europe for the first time and the stop at Adegem was the reason for her trip---she was visiting her brother's gravestone for the first time.As the bag-pipes played in the background she placed a wreath and the entire tour group shared many tears for this young Canadian soldier.

[Image: kimsbothergrave_zps41yghkcs.jpg]
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#5
One of the "little decisions " that affected my life ....when WWII was beginning and Canadians were enlisting , my to-be-Dad and his 2 brothers were all gung-ho about it . My Dad went to a vocational high school in Windsor ON at the time and his buddies were intent on joining the Army . My Dad thought about it but joined the Air Force instead at the urging of his brothers . The buddies at high school enlisted with the Essex Scottish Regiment that ended up going to Dieppe . Many of my Dad's friends never made it back ........ , and if my Dad had made a different decision , I might not be here myself .....I was born just after the war ended .

T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#6
I'll tell you straight up no soldier wins or looses a war--only the leaders and big corporations. For those of us that survive the hellish nightmare called war it ends upon our death. In the mean time we suffer nightmares see our VA benefits cut and denial of mental problems by our Government and the public in general sees our combat stress (so called and more colorful PTSD) as a tax payer free ride through life. Never mind the blood curling screams in the night and a sudden jolt out of bed only to find your palms are sweaty and your heart beating at warp speed while breathing in short excited gasps. The ghost came calling yet again and you can bet the farm it will call again and again and again until the day death claims you..

What's it like?

Death is tugging at your elbow 24/365 days and the odds? If your platoon has 44 men then your odds of being killed or wounded is 44:1 and to break that down..If your squad has 10 men then its 10:1 odds and the odds is far less in a full out assault...

And then..

POW! If you survive you're are a civilian again without being deprogrammed in a peaceful world. All of the empty welcome homes doesn't change that. Over months some readjust without problems while thousands others that was in the thick of it may never fully readjust.
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#7
teejay Wrote:One of the "little decisions " that affected my life ....when WWII was beginning and Canadians were enlisting , my to-be-Dad and his 2 brothers were all gung-ho about it . My Dad went to a vocational high school in Windsor ON at the time and his buddies were intent on joining the Army . My Dad thought about it but joined the Air Force instead at the urging of his brothers . The buddies at high school enlisted with the Essex Scottish Regiment that ended up going to Dieppe . Many of my Dad's friends never made it back ........ , and if my Dad had made a different decision , I might not be here myself .....I was born just after the war ended .

T

My father served in the Royal Canadian Navy during WW2.I'm sure many of his friends joined the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry which also participated in the fateful Dieppe raid---197 sons of Hamilton died that day.Today they rest in peace together with their brothers in arms .

[Image: dieppecemetery_zps3njpdcq9.jpg]
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