Veterans Day 2009

[John-in-KC]

Whether you call it Armistice Day, ending the First World War...

 

Or you call it Veteran's Day, and honor those who served who are among us...

 

If you value the freedoms you have as an American, stop for a moment today and thank a Veteran.

 

 

PS: Considering the treachery at Fort Hood, it's also all good to give a moment of silence for the fallen.

[Kahuna]

I'll second all of that!

[Eagle92]

THANK YOU!

[scoutldr]

I never served on active duty, but have spent the last 24 years as a DOD civilian. To my Scouter brothers and sisters who did serve, Thank You for your service and sacrifices.

 

And Thanks for coming home safely so I could be born, Dad! (USN Submarine Service 1942-1964)

[packsaddle]

I did a mini-refresher in history for all of my classes today (10 minutes at the beginning of lecture while the stragglers arrived). Then this afternoon we celebrated with some cheese and wine (grape juice, actually, since alcohol is against U policy).

[skeptic]

Pack;

 

I believe you teach college or at least higher grades. Anyway, I remember seeing how much middle schoolers knew about the wars the U.S. has fought, such as names and when about, and I was shocked at how little they knew. What I did was simply put a list of all the wars names which I could remember, out of order, then asked them to put them in order. Even Vietnam was not understood to be fairly recent. Wonder how the older students might do with something like that. Hopefully better, but if the infamous "Jaywalking" is any measure, probably not.

[prof]

Thanks to all who have served!

Thanks to all who are serving now!

[packsaddle]

I mostly teach juniors and seniors at a university. I am quick to note that most of our students are intellectually very good, outstanding actually. But somewhere along the way, perhaps a cultural thing, they have a tremendous knowledge of the here and now, and not a good understanding of what has gone before.

So, they enter my classes expecting a textbook served up with facts and ideas to be mastered. If they pay attention, they get that plus how those were developed, when, why, and by whom. It IS so much fun to lift the veils for those minds, remove their illusions, and to see the lights go on, one by one.

 

I can only imagine how rough those cobs must be in middle school.

 

Edited to add, just for skeptic: I have a particularly fond memory of my own children, who, while I was explaining what my wife and I had been doing about 1 year before they were born, informed me condescendingly that they really didn't want to hear, right then, about the 'old days'. What a great memory!(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[skeptic]

I sub primarily for lower grades, and they always want to know how old I am. So, I put my birth year, or birthday on the board and tell them to figure it out, but don't guess. Of course immediately some yell out guesses, then one will come up with 65. They all look at me strangely, then someone says that's older than my grandma or something like that. Just makes you feel so out of date. Still, they generally are still so curious and malible at that age; much more enjoyable most of the time.

[packsaddle]

Just to bring this old thread back to life, this year I'll be doing the classroom remembrance tomorrow.

A few years back I happened to give an evening lecture to members of a gated community on this day, just a coincidence. I began the presentation with a single slide thanking veterans for their service. There was almost no response at all from the audience. I was stunned. Give me the students any day....

[ghermanno]

Thank you. And a Happy Veterans Day to all, and prayers for peace.

 

A moment of silence for those Veterans that are no longer with us physicaly.

 

Rick

[Pint]

Weve just had our local Rememberance day parade with an impressive turn out by our Beavers/cubs and Scouts, meeting at the local branch of the Royal British Legion before assembling and parading through our local town to the war memorial by the Church, with a short service that involved a silence at 11am, laying the wreaths and a few other bits.

We then re-asembled and paraded back to the Royal British Legion (RBL is a veterans association ) where some of us

( including the cubs/beavers/scouts) had a few drinks at the bar - (non alcoholic for under 18's )

 

all over the UK, siamalr parades and services took place, including one in London at the cenotaph, where Scouts form an honour gaurd as the Queen, Prime minister etc file past.

 

Thought id share this with you...

 

 

 

The Scouts at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day

 

 

 

Since 1922, there has been an Honour Guard of Queen's Scouts (and formerly King's Scouts) flanking the door from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to the Cenotaph. There are no remaining written records in The Scout Association archives to tell us precisely the history of the first Honour Guard, but it is probable that the King's Scouts were there at the request of King George V himself.

 

 

 

So, what exactly did Scouts do in the First and Second World Wars that qualifies them to mount an Honour Guard at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to this day, and to stand to attention in front of the Queen, the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and all the representatives of Commonwealth countries as they file past? Well, for a start, an enormous number of Scouts served in the armed forces, police force and fire service since 1908, and have been highly valued by their regiments and squadrons for their prior knowledge and training. Many Scouts served in ambulance units, air raid patrols, and other civilian services.

 

 

 

By the end of the World War 2 more than 60,000 Scouts had been awarded the National Service Badge for their work at home. They had worked as First Aid orderlies, signallers, telephonists, Air Raid Precaution (ARP) messengers, stretcher-bearers, Coast Watch, Home Guard instructors and Rest Centre assistants. They had made camouflage nets, helped evacuate thousands of younger children from bombed city centres, harvested millions of tonnes of food and animal fodder, chopped wood on a massive scale (around 600,000 hours), and salvaged glass, metal and rubber for re-use.

 

 

 

However, it was the service performed by Scouts during air raids and the Blitz on London that showed outstanding courage and application of the words of the Scout Promise and Law. 80 young Scouts were given Scouting gallantry medals, and in London, Coventry and Liverpool the Silver Cross (Scouting) was awarded to entire Troops. Individual Scouts were awarded the George Medal and George Cross. Fifteen Scouts just old enough to serve in the forces were awarded the Victoria Cross. One particular service Scouts gave to London was guiding fire engines in from the outskirts of the city by the quickest routes to blazing buildings. When they couldn't get any closer to the fires because of the danger, the Scouts provided First Aid treatment and a barricade to stop others getting too close. In an air raid on Manchester, Scouts rushed burned and wounded firemen to hospital and returned to the scene to carry on their First Aid work. In many cases, older Scouts took over from Leaders who had joined up or been killed, in order to keep Troops together.

 

 

 

That's just a small indication of the support and service given by Scouts at a time when their skills, training and team-spiritedness were called upon constantly. The uniform made them instantly recognisable as individuals who could be trusted to give directions or provide a focus in a crisis, such as an air raid. So, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month every year, Scouts march at the tail of the procession of veterans, alongside Guides and members of the Boys' Brigade who have also provided civilian services to the public. From the 1930s until the late 1950s, London's Rover Scouts had their own service and procession past the Cenotaph, and thousands came from all over the country to march.

 

 

 

Remembrance Sunday for Scouts isn't about marching like soldiers or glorifying war. It's about representing fellow Scouts who 'did their best' in frightening and dangerous circumstances for the sake of their community and their country.