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11th hour,11th day,11th month 1918

Robert

To all our american and canadian friends,

On the occasion of the Centenary of the end of First World War all the members of the Normandy Rifle Club, French Long Range Rifle Shooting Association, his Chairman Philippe Ginestet (also NRA of GB Vice-President and Member in the Ordre National du Merite) and myself have a particular and warm thought of gratitude for the thousands of american and canadian soldiers who came to France and sacrified their youth on the Flanders,Somme ,Bois de Belleau and St Mihiel Salient battlefields for our freedom. They have been the tragic ambassadors of the franco-american and franco-canadian friendship. Many are still lying in french soil. We will never forget them.

Regards to all of you and a thought for all veterans.

Robert Chombart, NRC President Fondateur and NRA of Great Britain Vice-President.
 
Out of a population of around 5 million over 60 000 Australian servicemen were killed in the First World War. Many more returned incapacitated and unable to work.
A couple of great-uncles of mine were killed in France in that conflict, one aged 16 who faked his age enlisting.

Lest we forget. We shall remember them.
 
Macropod said:
Out of a population of around 5 million over 60 000 Australian servicemen were killed in the First World War. Many more returned incapacitated and unable to work.
A couple of great-uncles of mine were killed in France in that conflict, one aged 16 who faked his age enlisting.

Lest we forget. We shall remember them.
Click to expand...

We did not forget them and send the same message to NRA G.B, NRA-A and NRA-NZ Chairmen. How could I forget the ANZAC when I grew up on the exact Fromelles battle site?.

Sincerely yours
Robert.
 
My Grandad was in the BEF, he was in from 1914 to 1918 but he came home,(or i wouldn't be typing this) many never.
Lets not forget those in the Great War or any other conflict since who have been injured both phisicallyand mentally or paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to be able to live our lives with the freedom we often take for granted.
To all who serve god be with you.
We will remember them.
 
How times have changed. That might not be accurate. How people have changed. Back then I don't recall hearing about guys coming home with PTSD and shooting up a place, killing many. As I recall, men came home with shell shock and pretty much stayed to themselves. I was in the Vietnam Era Army. I recall one sergeant I came across who had been a survivor of Pork Chop Hill in Korea. He was an instructor at Fort Polk when I was there. He was fine, a proper instructor but when we went to the range, he stayed back. He couldn't bear to be around rifles during live fire exercises. When I came back, I came across an American in Canada who had fled there to avoid the draft. Well, I inflicted " a casualty of war" on him when he told me how stupid I was for accepting the draft. Vietnam changed a lot of people and a lot of people's thinking. Still, I admire those who went off to war in the two World Wars.
 
I just want to say that we owe complete respect to all servicemen and women who served in WWI. We also owe a debt of gratitude for all serving members in all conflicts since then. The vets are our greatest asset. I am free because of their sacrifice and I appreciate it more every passing day. God Bless our Troops forever and ever. We must never forget the sacrifice of these brave souls.
 
I sometimes will sit and watch tv on the military channel. I don't care how many times I watch it, the feeling I get in my heart for all that fought in the world wars and Korea is almost beyond believe. What those folks went through is unreal. I'm a 100% disabled combat veteran from Vietnam but, I know we didn't endure the conditions our forefathers went through. Sadly, when I drive around our neighborhood on Veteran's Day, it's not hard to count the number of flags on display.
 
In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae

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.
 
This is easier understood by our fellow British, (British Empire) site members, but is a startling view by poet Siegfried Sassoon:

Base Details
If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath
I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You'd see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap,"
I'd say — "I used to know his father well;
Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap."
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I'd toddle safely home and die — in bed.
 
Robert said:
To all our american and canadian friends,

On the occasion of the Centenary of the end of First World War all the members of the Normandy Rifle Club, French Long Range Rifle Shooting Association, his Chairman Philippe Ginestet (also NRA of GB Vice-President and Member in the Ordre National du Merite) and myself have a particular and warm thought of gratitude for the thousands of american and canadian soldiers who came to France and sacrified their youth on the Flanders,Somme ,Bois de Belleau and St Mihiel Salient battlefields for our freedom. They have been the tragic ambassadors of the franco-american and franco-canadian friendship. Many are still lying in french soil. We will never forget them.

Regards to all of you and a thought for all veterans.

Robert Chombart, NRC President Fondateur and NRA of Great Britain Vice-President.
Click to expand...

Just wow. Thank you.
 
D0D28C5F-B16C-4CEE-A08B-4D3DF9B4A24F.jpeg I’m going to post this on Facebook on 11/11. Many have had a older relative in the war, some lost. But this is a tribute to all those lost in that sadness. These were the documented first and last. In the middle were 8 Million of their comrades from all nations. Even the survivors are all gone now. We shall remember them.
 
All great people posting here before me. My Grandpa was in France, Italy, and Austria. I have his diary he kept while over there. Cool reading. I can tell you the day he sent the rifles, helmets, Billy club, knife, bayonet, and the Browning 1911 pistol home. This model of pistol is the one that was used to assassanate the Archduke of Austria that started WW1. Tomorrow my Grandson and I will take it all to the school to get set up for the program Sunday. My grandson put together a collection of Austrian coins I gave him that Grandpa brought back. Can't hardly believe they let me bring firearms to the school in today's world. But then again, I live in Iowa.
 
MrMajestic's photo reminded me of a book. "THE LONG WAR DEAD" by my deceased buddy Bryan Alec Floyd. It is quite an unusual book containing one page non-rhyming poetry written in a way that makes it stand apart. Bryan had a way with words which to say the least was unusual:

Corporal Curt Meadows, USMC

In the warp of military time,
his father got his son's last letter
after he received word of his son's death.
His son's letter read:
"And there be old memories
made alive and young
of the dying and the dead
the living have no right to forget."




RIP Bryan, 1940-1999 VietNam Vet USMC Calverton National Cemetery New York
 
I gathered some of my Grandfather's WWI Army items, here they are.

In the letter to his father, he says, "well the war is over , I used to sit back at home and listen to the old folks talk about the war they were in, Civil War it was (a North Carolinian, as am I) but they haven't anything on me now. I can tell you of some of my experiences that beats anything you have read".

He goes on to describe being bombed for 3 straight days, then to Verdun, and the sound of silence when the great guns stopped Nov 11th at 11'oclock.
He was timing the rounds with his stopwatch, and then silence.

He was gassed; assigned to a train tasked with bringing artillery rounds to the front lines. I'd imagine no one not there or in action- then or now, could understand.

The Red Wild Cats, primarily North and South Carolinians.
Charles Thomas White. Thank you. and ALL who served or serve.
 

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Although I am a Army veteran, my service did not qualify me to be any type of hero. However, my grandfather was drafted into the Army when he was 28 years old and fought in the trenches of France during WWI. I had four uncles who served in WWII and they were, along with papaw the greatest generation. All of them have passed on now, but I would like to take November 11th as time for me to remember them and all of the millions who have served. God bless America.
 
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