lest we forget

[Carlos & Siran]

In remembrance of the old boys and girls who have fought and died for this country.

[TenyTinyKaz]

We will remember them

[Adrienne]

In remembrance of the old boys and girls who have fought and died for this country.

and for those among us who had/have parents who fought for another country and survived we consider ourselves very lucky. Today is the first ANZAC day since my father passed away. He did not fight for New Zealand but for Britain, even so I find myself appreciating more than ever the debt we owe those who went out and fought for our freedom.

[Rabbit]

:gopo:

[TenyTinyKaz]

and for those among us who had/have parents who fought for another country and survived we consider ourselves very lucky. Today is the first ANZAC day since my father passed away. He did not fight for New Zealand but for Britain, even so I find myself appreciating more than ever the debt we owe those who went out and fought for our freedom.

Today I count myself very lucky my amazing father is still here and my thoughts are with him and those who are no longer with us and their families. Adrienne, we are thinking of you and your father today, we will remember them.

[Caryl]

I was talking to a lady last night who said her dad was never the same after returning from the war and it ruined his life. He would never talk about it, got severe depression and became an alcoholic as a result.

It is sobering to realise how young they were - some only 15. A lot of the fighter pilots, and ground forces, were still teenagers when they died for their country.

We will remember them.

[David R]

Both my Grandfathers served in WW2, one in Crete, who was a medic and was captured at Malame (Crete) and the other with the Signals in North Africa and Italy, neither talked about it much but both seemed to do their best to return to a "normal" life with that same sense of duty they had during active service.

[camtang]

Very sobering stories from all ,thank you all for sharing with us. Lest we forget!

[Sophia]

My english Grandad was in WW2 fighting against my italian Grandad (not literally) and then of course italian Grandad had to change sides.

[David R]

Talking about Anzac Day, I had an interesting talk to an uncle about my Grandfathers time in WW2. I always knew he was a medic and involved in the battle for Maleme airfield on Crete, where he was taken prisoner and held in a German POW camp for a few years, but that was about the extent of the detail. He died ~20 years ago so I never spoke to him about it as an adult, but it turns out he actually did open up once to this uncle and told him a fair bit about what actually happened.

After the main battle for the airfield (Germans invaded with paratroopers and took the airfield) there were a lot of guys hiding in the hills in caves with many wounded, some seriously. He was in a cave with a fairly big group of guys including several seriously wounded who didn't have much of a chance without proper medical attention, so they decided a group of them would surrender and carry the critically wounded down so they could get them to a hospital. And that is how he ended up being captured, basically giving up his own freedom to save the lives of his mates.

Then while in transit on the mainland of Greece, heading for Poland/Germany they were in a convoy of trucks with the wounded in the back, one German guard in the cab and a couple of them alternating the driving. The guard would regularly fall asleep during the night, and one particularly foggy night while they were at the back of the convoy they lost sight of the others at a T intersection. The guy driving decided they should make a break for it so they took off in the other direction away from the convoy. A few minutes up the road they stopped and check on the guys in the back and how bad they were. There were several in pretty bad shape who would have no hope of escaping and little hope of anything without the proper medical care they were receiving, so they turned around and rejoined the convoy, once again forsaking their own freedom to help others.

Kinda blew me away really, there must be thousands of other such stories of bravery and self sacrifice that have gone untold over the years because those involved would rather forget and try get on with normal life.

[acara]

@ David R, I've been to Crete for a couple of 14nt 'package' holidays, but always rent a car and head off to see the sites. Military history, particularly the two WW's has been my interest since knee high to a grasshopper, so I've done a lot of the sites there in relation to the Battle. I've nothing but admiration for the lads that served there, and I must say, the attitude of the locals towards me changes quite significantly once they find out I'm a Kiwi. They're so use to the boozy Brits and drunken Irish and think I'm just another of them. Second trip I arrived at hotel on a coach load from Ireland, and they were all a bit miffed that I got free air-con, they had to pay €60 a week On a few nights away from the resort, we stayed in a room owned by an old chap, and he was delighted to hear I was a Kiwi, showed me around his herb garden that he was so proud of, and told me of taking food as a kid up to the Kiwi soldiers hiding in the caves, one of the soldiers sons often goes and visit him.

I've done ANZAC Day at Galipoli, and whilst it was special, Crete is up there too. A favourite spot is the German Cemetery.

I photographed every Kiwi grave in Souda Bay, so if anyone requires a photo of a prticular grave, let me know.

As for this years dawn service, it poured in Dublin, but that didn't stop us. had a mug of rum at 0715 with the Lord Mayor, and later in the evening went to the church service, followed by drinks at the Mansion House, and I had a few scoops of the black stuff courtesy of the Lord mayor.

[alanmin4304]

Let us all never forget how many died through poor decisions and leadership and how terrible war actually is. My father was a good example of military decisions. He volonteered for ground crew in the airforce in 1939 because he had an engineering background, but because he had exceptional night vision they insisted he train as a pilot, but because he was 27 and too old to fly in the battle of Britain he never went overseas. We may have been a bit lucky to win the war with decisions like that.

[David R]

acara I was in Crete a couple of years ago and I too was amazed by the attitude of the locals, even many of those far too young to remember, when they discovered we were kiwis. Sadly we didn't make it up to Maleme, but did spend a bit of time driving around out of Heraklion to see some of the countryside. Beautiful place, will certainly go back some day and get up to Maleme.

[NoFishing]

You guys have some very touching and amazing stories. It really brings home the true meaning of ANZAC and what true heroes these guys were. I doubt many modern soldiers would be as brave.

Thanks for sharing.