2 minutes silence

[dogsbody]

All the Delegates and Trainers at the BMMC NE Region's Motorsport Marshals' Training Day in Louth / Cadwell respected the silence. Many poppies on show (and on sale) too.

[Newton]

I was driving and when big Ben started ringing I pulled over sat in silence and thought of our lost ones in wars past and present. I also thought of the lost ones of other armies who i believe deserve our thoughts also.

I am always surprised at others seem to carry on regardless........It should be compulsory to observe!

[Piggle]

Everyone in the Starbucks on the m6 services at charnock Richards did. Much to the confusion of two people who walked in obliviously in the midst of it!

[julesapple]

I also thought of the lost ones of other armies who i believe deserve our thoughts also.

Agreed.

You know, it always gets my goat when you hear people talking about 'the enemy' as if they're subhuman. They are just people who are fighting their own corner. They have families, homes and morals that they are/were fighting for the same as everyone else. They have or will suffer just as our loved ones did and will continue to do.

I love the WW1 story about the British and the Germans playing football together in no man's land on Christmas Day.....

[julesapple]

I've just thought of something; at the Boot this morning there were Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Italians, some Americans and Germans. And, as I said, everyone observed the silence. I expect all of those people shared the same thoughts we did.

[Matt94]

Yep we had a 2 minute silence at the horticultural society too

[cptncrackoff]

We did!!
We were on the lottie, stopped what we were doing, reflected,even the kids.
My grandfather was a POW in japan.

There was a youth football match going on next to the allotments - they carried on without a care!

(at least it wasnt the grown ups, and their 4 letter explosions)

[yummersetter]

I was alone in the kitchen and got confused - my two minutes were from 11 minutes past 11 onwards, one eleven too many! I was surprised when I switched on the radio afterwards to hear, not the Last Post, but commentary about minor royalty laying their wreaths.

[chris]

Last year, in my previous job one of the senior managers took a phone call just as it started. I was so mad, I sat on my hands for a min - but then I couldn't help myself. Went over to him and tore him a new one (obviously in a whisper).

I fully expected a disciplinary afterwards, but he actually came over and apologised. It was blatantly obvious mind, the whole floor observed the silence, bar him

I do often think about our forefolk - not just on armistice day.

[Florence Fennel]

It's awesome that for those 2 minutes, millions of people are thinking the same thoughts. My 3 Golden Girls and a grandson were absolutely still and silent with us, I was very proud of them.

[Patchninja]

Here, I watched the telly and observed it here. At the war memorial in our little town the service is very moving when oneperson reads out the names of the fallen and another calls out mort pour la France.

[julesapple]

I lost my grandad at El Alamein in October 1942. By all accounts he was a real character. He worked on the Grand Pier before the war and there are photos of him climbing ladders, painting and fixing, all in a pullover, shirt and tie!

My Nan used to tell a story about him when he came home on leave (he was one of the first chaps to enlist in 1939) and asked what she had for supper. She said cabbage & potatoes. And how much money did she have? Sixpence, and it had to last all week. Well, he took the sixpence and went out the door and my Nan was so cross because she knew he was off to the pub. He was back a few hours later with a ten bob note, a pound of sausages and two bananas. Apparently he was an expert gambler.....

I often think about what we, as a family, have missed out on not knowing him. My mum was seven when he died. He left my nan and four kids and he never saw the baby born a month before he died. We aren't even sure if he got the letter my Nan sent telling him about his new son. I hope he did.

[snohare]

As usual, I thought of a poem about a soldier who wrote a letter home to his wife, saying he was away off to battle again, in Africa. He said his luck "was at the bottom of the sea"...his troopship was torpedoed, so he never did get to see his newborn son, the poet who wrote the verses.
I was helping a neighbour fit a door. I asked him for the radio as we both lacked a watch and wouldn't know when the 2 minute silence was otherwise. He fetched a radio, tuned it in to the Remembrance Sunday broadcast...he was out of the room, came back as it was about to start. I told him it was starting when the gun sounded...Big Ben began to toll...he started raking about in his tool box ! All the time I stood there silent he was fiddling about with screws...muttered "Sorry" at one point...not about continuing to work, about dropping a screw !
I was not particularly impressed. Even the tractors in the fields had stopped.
I'm not keen on our latest wars - or most of the others we have found reason to fight - but however you feel about the legitimacy, I feel we have to respect the commitment of those who are willing to take life-or-death orders from the clowns in power, and above all, take time to remember the waste of it all.

[julesapple]

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek ?
To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgement of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell.

[darcyvuqua]

Very valid point about our so called enemy moreso for the world wars there were a lot of our good men SENT to there deaths..........but i pity the people who think every german for instance wanted to be in a trench for days on end fearing that they may have to kill someone or even be killed themselves..... there were good men lost on both sides and a lot of families suffered for this!

However personnal belief aside im so glad that there was an overall positive feedback on this thread.