http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham

 

died yesterday aged 113.

 

one of only a few 'pals' left from the first world war, i first heard him on a tv documentary a few years ago along with a handful of others giving horrific first hand accounts of life in the trenches. this guy deserves the utmost respect, (UNLIKE JACKO :angry:) as his life history shows.

 

i believe theres only 1 guy left now who fought in the first world war.... harry patch, another fascinating character.

 

i just wonder if these guys would have fought if they could see the state of the country now...

 

 

 

harry patch

DISGRACEFUL! :angry:

 

just found out that neither allingham or patch recieved any medal from us, no honours, yet france HAS honoured them :angry:

 

do they deserve it? well in my book they deserve it far more then some poxy ponce of a football player, second rate pop musician, some old 'luvvie' from the acting world...

How many WW1 veterans are there left in the world now? Must only be a couple I'd have thought. Sad isn't it. It's like a link to history being severed. :(

How many WW1 veterans are there left in the world now? Must only be a couple I'd have thought. Sad isn't it. It's like a link to history being severed. :(

 

1 in the uk, think theres a frenchy..

 

harry patch, and by the look of it he will be lucky to see another poppy day :(

 

if its ever repeated (im sure it will on sky/cable at least) everyone should listen to their stories...fascinating and heartbreaking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_survi..._of_World_War_I

 

4 in total.

 

I remember last year's Remembrance Day with Allingham, Patch and Stone. Only one of those three left. :(

do they deserve it? well in my book they deserve it far more then some poxy ponce of a football player, second rate pop musician, some old 'luvvie' from the acting world...

 

100% spot on... The way the State (not just this state, but in reality, most..) treats war veterans is nothing short of fukkin' disgraceful frankly... They use up these young, working class lads (and lasses these days..), send them off to die in some bullsh!t war for bullsh!t reasons, to kill other young working class lads and lasses, and then when it's all done, pin a piece of tin to their chest and say "good job old chap...", and then promptly forget about them pretty much, or mess them around with benefits, pensions, etc. It's a joke really... Mind you, we've been treating the Ghurkas even worse than the regular service folks..... <_< <_<

 

I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that if these guys could see into the future to what this country would become, what a mess Politicians have made of things over the past 30 years or so, they would all have been Consciencious Objectors....

if its ever repeated (im sure it will on sky/cable at least) everyone should listen to their stories...fascinating and heartbreaking.

 

No thanks, think I'd find watching paint dry more interesting. :dance:

Edited July 22, 200915 yr by Crazy Chris

100% spot on... The way the State (not just this state, but in reality, most..) treats war veterans is nothing short of fukkin' disgraceful frankly... They use up these young, working class lads (and lasses these days..), send them off to die in some bullsh!t war for bullsh!t reasons, to kill other young working class lads and lasses, and then when it's all done, pin a piece of tin to their chest and say "good job old chap...", and then promptly forget about them pretty much, or mess them around with benefits, pensions, etc. It's a joke really... Mind you, we've been treating the Ghurkas even worse than the regular service folks..... <_< <_<

 

I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that if these guys could see into the future to what this country would become, what a mess Politicians have made of things over the past 30 years or so, they would all have been Consciencious Objectors....

 

Interesting how many parallels can be drawn between WWI and our recent disaster in Iraq. WWI was started by a few crazed, unstable, inbred morons who saw war as grand and romantic and used a vague system of alliances and a few regional tensions to engage in a spectacularly horrific and devastating war. Combing modern killing technologies with medieval strategies and delusions of romance and other such nonsense, millions of men died for virtually no reason.

 

How was Iraq different? Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and company see a rascal of a dictator lording over a large country, full of oil, just dyyyyyyyying for a McDonalds and other American investment, and strategically placed at the center for the Middle East. With no plan beyond waltzing in, dropping a couple bombs here and there and setting up a fabulous democracy within months, they made good use of American fear, sadness, anger and confusion following 9/11 and dropped a bunch of young men and women to die in the desert.

No thanks, think I'd find watching paint dry more interesting. :dance:

 

you really are a complete arsehole arnt you <_<

you really are a complete arsehole arnt you <_<

 

 

Why, because I have different opinions to you?

Why, because I have different opinions to you?

 

No, because you're totally fukkin' disrespectful to people who fought and died in wars so you could have the freedom to pish your life away on the dole and talk total sh!te on the internet...... <_<

 

Frankly, if it were in my power to ban you for that infantile, ridiculous comment, I would, the sheer disrespect you show to these guys is absolutely incredible..... Rob is absolutely correct to call you an arsehole, you're an even bigger fool than ElPres when he went around saying Hitler was a "good bloke", but at least he had the fact that he was about 14 as an excuse for his foolishness, which he'll likely grow out of, you, however, never did grow out of yours.... 49 years old...? Christ..... :mellow:

 

In fact, take a raise in your warning level... I'm simply not having flippant comments such as that on this Forum.....

Interesting how many parallels can be drawn between WWI and our recent disaster in Iraq. WWI was started by a few crazed, unstable, inbred morons who saw war as grand and romantic and used a vague system of alliances and a few regional tensions to engage in a spectacularly horrific and devastating war. Combing modern killing technologies with medieval strategies and delusions of romance and other such nonsense, millions of men died for virtually no reason.

 

How was Iraq different? Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and company see a rascal of a dictator lording over a large country, full of oil, just dyyyyyyyying for a McDonalds and other American investment, and strategically placed at the center for the Middle East. With no plan beyond waltzing in, dropping a couple bombs here and there and setting up a fabulous democracy within months, they made good use of American fear, sadness, anger and confusion following 9/11 and dropped a bunch of young men and women to die in the desert.

 

Absolutely Consie... Spot on, as usual.... Indeed, you can make parallels with regards to WW1 and Iraq/Afghanistan, although, I would say the parallel with Vietnam is probably a more pronounced one.....

Absolutely Consie... Spot on, as usual.... Indeed, you can make parallels with regards to WW1 and Iraq/Afghanistan, although, I would say the parallel with Vietnam is probably a more pronounced one.....

 

Very true, which was right in the middle of the 20th century. Which means we seem to make the same mistakes once every couple generations or so. All the more reason why it is important to be a student of history.

 

No thanks, think I'd find watching paint dry more interesting. :dance:

 

See above.

Why, because I have different opinions to you?

 

.... its my opinion that you are a complete arsehole based on the ignorant posts you continually make.

 

No, because you're totally fukkin' disrespectful to people who fought and died in wars so you could have the freedom to pish your life away on the dole and talk total sh!te on the internet...... <_<

 

Frankly, if it were in my power to ban you for that infantile, ridiculous comment, I would, the sheer disrespect you show to these guys is absolutely incredible..... Rob is absolutely correct to call you an arsehole, you're an even bigger fool than ElPres when he went around saying Hitler was a "good bloke", but at least he had the fact that he was about 14 as an excuse for his foolishness, which he'll likely grow out of, you, however, never did grow out of yours.... 49 years old...? Christ..... :mellow:

 

In fact, take a raise in your warning level... I'm simply not having flippant comments such as that on this Forum.....

 

absolutely spot on scott total agreement with every word.

 

the utter horror that those blokes went through, were sent too, the suffering, the loss of life, the injuries and even now flashbacks (on nurse told of the veteran who had a fright when the flurescent light flickered on...it reminded him of shells in the trenches 80 years ago..) all so a complete idle slob can waste away his life at our expense makes me sick. chris aint fit to lick their boots...

.... its my opinion that you are a complete arsehole based on the ignorant posts you continually make.

absolutely spot on scott total agreement with every word.

 

the utter horror that those blokes went through, were sent too, the suffering, the loss of life, the injuries and even now flashbacks (on nurse told of the veteran who had a fright when the flurescent light flickered on...it reminded him of shells in the trenches 80 years ago..) all so a complete idle slob can waste away his life at our expense makes me sick. chris aint fit to lick their boots...

 

FULL TRUTH and what Scott said

 

Those guys that gave up their lives to protect and preserve our freedoms would turn in their grave right now to see someone like Crazy Chris has turned out and how he has pissed on those very freedoms they fought to protect by not looking for a job and having such sick views under "freedom of speech"

the utter horror that those blokes went through, were sent too, the suffering, the loss of life, the injuries and even now flashbacks (on nurse told of the veteran who had a fright when the flurescent light flickered on...it reminded him of shells in the trenches 80 years ago..) all so a complete idle slob can waste away his life at our expense makes me sick. chris aint fit to lick their boots...

 

Absolutely... The Horrors my Grandad saw at the Concentration camps, the gas chambers, the "walking dead", the mass graves, etc, stayed with him for all his life.... He recounted these experiences to me so that I'd never take things for granted, he had tears in his eyes when he told me about these things, and this was almost 40 years on.... I reckon that it was in no small part due to my Grandad telling me those things that I became an Anti-Nazi League activist in the 90s.... These were strong, brave men (and women when you talk about the Partisans, Freedom fighters, etc, the film "Carve Her Name With Pride" was a tribute to the women freedom and resistance fighters who fought the Nazis....) who gave up their tomorrows so we could have our todays.....

 

Those guys that gave up their lives to protect and preserve our freedoms would turn in their grave right now to see someone like Crazy Chris has turned out and how he has pissed on those very freedoms they fought to protect by not looking for a job and having such sick views under "freedom of speech"

 

Chris is perfectly free to make the comment he made (notice that I haven't actually deleted it...), but with freedom comes a price.... The price for Chris's freedom is a 10% warning...... :rolleyes:

 

tbh he is walking a very thin line between being a complete idiot or a wind up merchant, so far we have accepted hes a complete idiot so wont get banned or anything....but i agree that the time has come to start issuing warnings for what are unfounded, inflamitory remarks with no real purpose but to get a reaction.

 

hes a sad , lonely slob.

but i agree that the time has come to start issuing warnings for what are unfounded, inflamitory remarks with no real purpose but to get a reaction.

 

Yeah, it simply has to be done on this Forum in particular, because the issues we discuss here are more serious and weighty than elsewhere.... If someone had an issue with, say, the pomp and ceremony surrounding Remembrance Day ceremonies (which I certainly take issue with considering these ceremonies almost always seem to get hijacked by opportunist politicians), and put forth a coherent, cogent argument about that, then this is a different matter, Chris' comments were just plain disrespectful...

 

This isn't like somebody saying that the new Radiohead or Coldplay album is "a bit dull" or "like watching paint dry", it's not even the same ballpark..... Chris complains to me in his PM that his comment wasn't racist or offensive.... But I'd argue about it not being offensive, I'd say it certainly was.... I think that if Kate can get a 10% warning for cracking a joke about the sodding Saturdays on the Saturdays AF, Jake can lose his mod priveleges for posting porn, and Rob gets a 24 hour ban for a joke about Michael Jackson, then Chris needs to shut up and take his (very lenient) punishment like a man.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8168691.stm

 

Harry Patch died today.

RIP the last British survivor of the trenches of WWI.