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Remembrance Day, 11th November 2006,


Kan Win

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;

To you, from failing hands, we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Written in 1915 by Major John McCrae, brigade-surgeon, First Brigade Canadian Forces Artillery

At 11am on 11 November we pause to remember the sacrifice of those men and women who have died or suffered in wars and conflicts and all those who have served during the past 100 years.

:o

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“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.”

from For The Fallen by Laurence Bunyon

:o

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I think what Sting was trying to point out was Thailand (Siam at the time) was amongst the Allied countries.

and for those interested, the AustCham is organising a trip to Kanchanaburi for Remembrance Day. further info on their site.....

http://www.austchamthailand.com/AustCham/a...amp;SponsorId=2

(not sure if ok to post link?) thank you :o

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“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.”

from For The Fallen by Laurence Bunyon

:D

I wrote the Following as a young english soldier on active service in North East Thailand in 1963,

Crown Camp Lament, by JL, Leong Nok Tha 6/5/1963.

Just off the laos border Crown camp is just the spot,

Stuck in the middle of knowhere in a land that god forgot,

Up among the snakes and chit chats, up where the men get blue,

Stuck on this <deleted> airfield, 10,000 miles from you,

Late at night when mossies bite, the rain is hammering down,

To bed we wear a groundsheet to ensure that we dont drown,

We swear,we sweat, we Blister, we dont think lifes to grand,

We are not a bunch of convicts we are defenders of this land,

In this Thailand paradise there is no time for play,

All we seem to do is work from day to endless day.

When we get to heaven St Peter he will yell, Let The Boys From Op.Crown in They Have had Their Share Of hel_l!!

A bit corny I know!! but I dedicate it to all surviving members of this operation, also to the guys who only made it as far as Kranji war Cemetary, Lest We Forget :o Nignoy

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I wrote the Following as a young english soldier on active service in North East Thailand in 1963,

Crown Camp Lament, by JL, Leong Nok Tha 6/5/1963.

Just off the laos border Crown camp is just the spot,

Stuck in the middle of knowhere in a land that god forgot,

Up among the snakes and chit chats, up where the men get blue,

Stuck on this <deleted> airfield, 10,000 miles from you,

Late at night when mossies bite, the rain is hammering down,

To bed we wear a groundsheet to ensure that we dont drown,

We swear,we sweat, we Blister, we dont think lifes to grand,

We are not a bunch of convicts we are defenders of this land,

In this Thailand paradise there is no time for play,

All we seem to do is work from day to endless day.

When we get to heaven St Peter he will yell, Let The Boys From Op.Crown in They Have had Their Share Of hel_l!!

A bit corny I know!! but I dedicate it to all surviving members of this operation, also to the guys who only made it as far as Kranji war Cemetary, Lest We Forget :o Nignoy

Hi Nignoy.... it this you???... http://www.angelfire.com/wi/poetryantiwar/

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I wrote the Following as a young english soldier on active service in North East Thailand in 1963,

Crown Camp Lament, by JL, Leong Nok Tha 6/5/1963.

Just off the laos border Crown camp is just the spot,

Stuck in the middle of knowhere in a land that god forgot,

Up among the snakes and chit chats, up where the men get blue,

Stuck on this <deleted> airfield, 10,000 miles from you,

Late at night when mossies bite, the rain is hammering down,

To bed we wear a groundsheet to ensure that we dont drown,

We swear,we sweat, we Blister, we dont think lifes to grand,

We are not a bunch of convicts we are defenders of this land,

In this Thailand paradise there is no time for play,

All we seem to do is work from day to endless day.

When we get to heaven St Peter he will yell, Let The Boys From Op.Crown in They Have had Their Share Of hel_l!!

A bit corny I know!! but I dedicate it to all surviving members of this operation, also to the guys who only made it as far as Kranji war Cemetary, Lest We Forget :o Nignoy

Hi Nignoy.... it this you???... http://www.angelfire.com/wi/poetryantiwar/

Definitely not Thailand War Poet is Willy Bach a walter Mitty type who arrived at OP. Crown in late 66 when it was winding down, he has been campaigning for an active service medal ever since! the guy is a joke a wann abee,he even turned up at my house here in oz 6 or 7 years ago, :D Nignoy

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No disrepect intended, but another soldier's take on war in general:

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

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No disrepect intended, but another soldier's take on war in general:

<snipped for brevity>

I think you're missing the point... nobody is glorifying war here.

Remembrance Day is about paying respect to those men and women who have died or suffered in wars and all those who have served on our behalf.

Respect.

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My wife and I shall be visiting the Anzio War Cemeteries over hear near Rome.

---

With respect to whose side the Thais were on.

The poster above who states that the Thais fought with the Allies in WW1 is correct.

Likewise it is correct that Thailand fought with the Japanese during the Second World War.

My introduction the much the war poetry being posted here came via my old English Master, a retired British Army Major who had fought with the Chindits in the Burma Campaign. He also gave me my first introduction to anything about Thailand. I recall vividly his account of fighting, not just Japanese but also Thais.

I think it is essential that respect for those who fought, must also be allowed to include defending the historical facts against the history revisionists bent on re-writing the part their nation played in the war.

Incidentally,a nd back to poetry/prose, I particularly like Sassoon, not just for his poetry but for his prose on the war, while Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That" is simply stunning.

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No disrepect intended, but another soldier's take on war in general:

<snipped for brevity>

I think you're missing the point... nobody is glorifying war here.

Remembrance Day is about paying respect to those men and women who have died or suffered in wars and all those who have served on our behalf.

Respect.

I'm sorry, I didn't see anything in my comment that said or implied anyone was glorifying war here. I wrote that comment mindful that some might think my posting an anti-war poem by a war poet was disrespectful. That's all, nothing more, nothing less.

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THE GREEN BERET MEN

A word in the house, a stroke of a pen

The country disbanded a fine body of men

With fighting finesse and fitness supreme

The creme de la creme wore berets of Green.

Their training was tough, it had to be so

How to fight with a knife and kill with one blow

Salerno, Vaagso, Dieppe and St Nazaire

With impossible odds the Commando's were there.

Their raids so successful that once Hitler said

"If captured no prisoners I want these men dead"

To late he discovered his men were not keen

To battle with these Marines who wore berets of Green.

On D-Day at Sword beach they were there to the fore

As they jumped from the landing craft and made for the shore

Their contempt for the Nazi's was very plain to see

For they wore not steel helmets but berets of Green.

When it was all over and the fighting no more

The first that was disbanded was the Green beret Corp's

Who went back to their Shires, their Towns and their Glens

A real fine body of gentle self disciplined men.

As the years roll on by they still meet it is said

To talk, toast the Queen and remember their dead

Whose memorial stands at the foot of the Ben

Where they fought for the right to be Green beret men.

For our freedom of movement our freedom of speech

To those who come after , this gospel I preach

A word in the house a stroke of the pen these cannot wipe out

The debt to those brave Green beret men.

PER MARE PER TERRAM.

Least we forget.......Desertcam :o

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My wife and I shall be visiting the Anzio War Cemeteries over hear near Rome.

---

With respect to whose side the Thais were on.

The poster above who states that the Thais fought with the Allies in WW1 is correct.

Likewise it is correct that Thailand fought with the Japanese during the Second World War.

My introduction the much the war poetry being posted here came via my old English Master, a retired British Army Major who had fought with the Chindits in the Burma Campaign. He also gave me my first introduction to anything about Thailand. I recall vividly his account of fighting, not just Japanese but also Thais.

I think it is essential that respect for those who fought, must also be allowed to include defending the historical facts against the history revisionists bent on re-writing the part their nation played in the war.

Incidentally,a nd back to poetry/prose, I particularly like Sassoon, not just for his poetry but for his prose on the war, while Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That" is simply stunning.

" Goodbye to All That ", should be made compulsary reading for all those of whatever nationality who crave power. The finest book I have ever read. :o

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