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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>forgetting the Polish, English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, Australians, Africans, New Zealanders, Canadians, Indians, Russians, French, Danish, Dutch, Greeks, people of the Balkans, ect who all fought much longer and sacrificed so much more.
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You left out the Mexicans. I think there was a couple of them snuck in also. One even had a gun. Whew, what would we done with out em? 
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An excellent, fascinating thread WHEN IT STICKS TO THE POINT! Note to American neo-nazis, unabombers, zionists, vegitarians, vulcans, old uncle tom cobbleighs& all : there are plenty of other looney* sites where you are free to spout your 2 cents worth. As Voltaire so neatly put it:
I hate your opinions, but would die for your right to express them.
To chuck in my own driegroschens-worth: I come from a long line of professional sailors & soldiers, all rather junior officers, nothing above Colonel. Grandfather was a heavily-decorated hero, big game hunter, duellist, etc. badly wounded fighting slave-traders in Africa just before WW1; so he survived when all the other officers in his unit died on the Western Front. Father volunteered for WW2 on his 18th birthday & reached the rank of Captain by the end...
An impressive inheritance.
So how come I add a new dimension to the word <span class="ev_code_YELLOW">coward </span> & hand the Gatling boys money to buy Emmy-Lou a drink before slinking home to play computer games & look at porn on the net?
{*Apologies to the medically mentally-deranged}
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Well said.
I guess on that note I'll take my cynicism and move along so others can be serious. And so I can honestly say I contributed this discussion for whatever it's worth...
I had an uncle who drove trucks in the Red Ball express from Normandy to the front lines and survived the war, and I had a cousin who is still MIA after a Japanese torpedo plane put a fish into his destroyer just below the AA gun mount where he was stationed off Okinawa. The sad human interest note on that one was when the kid was home on leave, he was not going to go back because he said he knew he was going to die. His parents made him go back ofcourse, took him down to the train station and packed him off themselves. A month later they got the Western Union telegram that he was missing in action. None of his remains were ever found.
Nice Avatar by the way there Bockholt.
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my family defeated both java & peking man.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bweiss:
The sad human interest note on that one was when the kid was home on leave, he was not going to go back because he said he knew he was going to die. His parents made him go back ofcourse, took him down to the train station and packed him off themselves. A month later they got the Western Union telegram that he was missing in action. None of his remains were ever found.
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That is very moving. A premonition.
Tolstoy, who fought as a Russian artillery officer both in the Caucasus (he fought those pesky Chechens, take note) & throughout the Crimean War, observed a strange phenomenon which he later used in 'War and Peace':
When a man is wounded in battle and convinced he shall die, then he will live. When he is wounded and believes he will survive - yes, he dies. Something to do with endorphins perhaps?
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by privateschultz:
my family defeated both java & peking man. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My family played a pivotal role in the annihilation of the Neanderthals, and one of my ancestors (a small dog-like creature) once stole the eggs of a tyrannosaur during the cretaceous era.
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Good thread - shame some people treat the contributions of those who fought in WWII as nothing more than point-scoring rants on a Web forum.
Anyhow, my family military history:
Father served in the Royal Military Police for 24 years, serving in NI as well as many other places around the World.
Paternal Grandfather served on HMS Foxhound during WWII. Maternal Grandfather served in the Royal Air Force in the desert during WWII.
Two Paternal Great Uncles served on HMS London, which was heavily shelled during the Yangtze Incident in 1949. One was a medic and the other a Royal Marine Gunner. Below are a couple of photographs taken by my uncles after the event:
Paternal Great Grandfather served as a medic on the western front and in Italy during WWI. Maternal Great Grandfather served in the German army during WWI. He was captured and shipped to England.
Of other relatives we are currently researching, one fought in the Boer War and was awarded a medal for being involved in the rescue of Winston Churchill, the other won medals for action in the Crimean War.
Cheers
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SaxonThegn:
Good thread - shame some people treat the contributions of those who fought in WWII as nothing more than point-scoring rants on a Web forum. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
What? Are you saying that my ancestor's egg-stealing exploits are worthless? Are you disrespecting my Neanderthal-bashing forebears? Their actions ensured the supremacy of the entire human species and you spurn their contribution in favour of the participants of a mere world war?
Hehe, some people take things waaay too seriously.
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Well, I could argue about the siege part... 
(as only airplanes took part to it, artillery and infantry being too far, and for a reason...)
But anyways, shaky shaky
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SaxonThegn, thank you for sharing those most interesting family photographs with everyone. I was only aware of HMS Amethyst's involvement in the Yangtse Incident, but will now go find out more...Internet, library, etc.
Beeryus, old friend! I laughed at your original prehistoric joke; but pride in a relation/ an ancestor, including anyone involved in WW2, is a reasonable emotion to feel. In our well-fed safe, day-to-day lives, do we not wonder how we might cope (or not) with real hardship, real sacrifice, real suffering? The fact that father, mother, grandparents, or great-grandparents did so surely gives us cause for hope.
What people have been through in History puts our own experiences into perspective.
Anyway, what happened to your Avatar? You had a nice sub there for a few hours, now it's vanished! Can't you get one of your Neanderthal ancestors to help you post it back up again?
