Memories on November 11, Veterans’ Day
November 11th, has been a day of Remembrance for many years. I would like to share a few memories I have of some of the military personnel I have met in my life.
I think the earliest memory is of the young RAF men who were billeted at my home in East Anglia, UK during WW2, when I was about 3 years old. They were stationed at the nearby Airfield and as we had 2 spare bedrooms in our home, we had a number of Airmen stay with us. The men would eat and work at the base but at night a bus would stop by and the men would sleep at our house, then in the morning they were picked up again. I often wondered what happened to them. Only one came back many years later, his name was Douglas. My mother was so excited to see him and he had apparently emigrated after the war to Australia and was home visiting family and friends.
I also remember when I was 4 a trip to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Brighton. We went by train and they were filled in those days by a lot of military people. On the train from London to Brighton we shared a carriage with some young soldiers from America. I remember they had a bag of black cherries which they shared with me. Oh my poor little pink dress was ruined by the juice but they were such friendly young men, off to war. I do hope they made it home safely but I will never know.
Over the years I met many more young men and women who served in the Armed Forces. My father in law was a US Navy officer, who served 33 months in a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines. What a terrible experience. He seldom spoke of it until his later years. It was just too difficult. He lost many friends in that camp and barely survived himself. He died 5 years ago but he never forgot.
Today I read in the paper that 2 more men from the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, our neighbor here in Washington State, the Brigade has lost 28 men since they were deployed to Afghanistan 4 months ago. I wonder how many more? Last week it was the shock of 8 people killed at Ft. Hood in Texas. So much life wasted, so many families in mourning.
So on November the Eleventh please take a little time out to remember those who have given their lives and time to make this a free country.
Tags: Nov 11
What a Wonderful World
Have you checked out the new photo contest yet? Water Scenes and Scapes. The photos are spectacular, there are lots of them. I spent quite some time looking at all of them the other evening. Good thing I don’t have dial-up, no one would be able to phone in otherwise.
There are photos from all over the world. From Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, from Vietnam and Asia, Europe including the U.K., lots from Canada and the U.S. from Alaska to Florida. I know I never will be able to travel to all those places but now I feel like an armchair traveler. I can sit back, click away and see beautiful sunsets at sea, and lakes and waterfalls from all over the world. It so nice of everyone to share their best pictures with their friends at NOTH. I just don’t know how the judges can come up with just 24 winners. They are all winners I think.
I think it would be difficult to sit and look at all of them in one sitting so I save the page I began at to My Favorites on my browser that way I can go through all the ones that have been added since I last looked.
Don’t forget you can click on the photo to enlarge it and send a comment to the person who submitted it. Maybe check and see if they mind if you use it for desktop wall paper. You could change a picture every day almost and make a new friend at the same time. There are so many talented photographers out there but sometimes it is just being in the right spot at the right time.
Thank you to all the people who shared and will share their photos. Maybe I will put in a couple myself. Just for the heck of it.
Please can someone tell me what "Registry Mechanic" is. I see it mentioned every week in the Cloudeight newsletter and people write in saying how great it is but I don't have a clue what it is for.
I understand it can make the computer run smoother and quicker but I still don't understand what it does and why. Thank you Eileen
