End of an era

[kallend 2,106]

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022800165.html??hpid=top

"Last US World War I veteran Frank W. Buckles dies at 110"

I had 5 uncles who served in WW1, one was gassed at the Somme. All gone now, of course.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[tonyhays 86]

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Mr. Buckles wanted a grave site at Arlington and a traditional white marble headstone. And he will get his wish.

...Outstanding!

A couple of quotes that brought a smile from the article...

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"I feel like an endangered species," he joked,

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"When you think you're dying," his son-in-law once heard him quip, "don't."

Thanks for sharing.

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

[rehmwa 2]

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www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022800165.html??hpid=top

"Last US World War I veteran Frank W. Buckles dies at 110"

I had 5 uncles who served in WW1, one was gassed at the Somme. All gone now, of course.

So of those 6 horribly evil american killers, what was the total number of baby food factories destroyed - did they keep some kind of tally?

(just wanted to get it out there before those that REALLY feel that way started the junk)


Seriously for this last one left that SERVED then - RIP and thank you

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[winsor 236]

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www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022800165.html??hpid=top

"Last US World War I veteran Frank W. Buckles dies at 110"

I had 5 uncles who served in WW1, one was gassed at the Somme. All gone now, of course.

So of those 6 horribly evil american killers, what was the total number of baby food factories destroyed - did they keep some kind of tally?

(just wanted to get it out there before those that REALLY feel that way started the junk)


Seriously for this last one left that SERVED then - RIP and thank you

First off, the brunt of the losses at the Somme were BEF - Brits & ANZAC forces. In the first day of the battle - mostly in the first four hours - Britain lost some 60,000 troops, of which 20,000 were killed outright.

The Somme was fait accompli by the time the US actually fielded any troops; impressed though we may be by our experiences "over there," our actual combat contributions were but a drop in the bucket.

For those who think that the U.S. has a corner on the market when it comes to fierce warfare, I highly recommend a trip that includes stops at Ypres, Verdun and the Albert-Amiens Somme battlefields. It is truly mind-blowing.


BSBD,

Winsor

[shropshire 0]

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The Soldier - Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[masterrig 1]

That's beautiful. Thanks for sharing.


Chuck

[kelpdiver 2]

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The Somme was fait accompli by the time the US actually fielded any troops; impressed though we may be by our experiences "over there," our actual combat contributions were but a drop in the bucket.

The primary contribution of the US was to tip over a stalemate that had lasted far too long. Had we been more involved, I wonder if even Pearl Harbor would have been enough to get us willing to return in war in 1941.

[Andy9o8 2]

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The Somme was fait accompli by the time the US actually fielded any troops; impressed though we may be by our experiences "over there," our actual combat contributions were but a drop in the bucket.

I suppose it's a matter of perspective. The conventional history (FWIW) is more or less that the two sides were at a virtual strategic stalemate, with the possibility that the Central Powers might eventually have prevailed, until the insertion of American power broke that stalemate and tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. It's also a fact that roughly 117,465 Americans never made it back alive.

[winsor 236]

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The Somme was fait accompli by the time the US actually fielded any troops; impressed though we may be by our experiences "over there," our actual combat contributions were but a drop in the bucket.

I suppose it's a matter of perspective. The conventional history (FWIW) is more or less that the two sides were at a virtual strategic stalemate, with the possibility that the Central Powers might eventually have prevailed, until the insertion of American power broke that stalemate and tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. It's also a fact that roughly 117,465 Americans never made it back alive.

I am not disputing that Americans participated, or that their death toll was anything less than appalling.

The fact that the Douaumont Ossuary contains the bones of more than 130,000 unidentified combatants kind of puts our losses into a slightly different perspective.

The cemetery in front of the Ossuary has 13,000 graves where there was enough left to bury. The military cemetery in Verdun has a similar number. These are the dead from one battle, that took place over 300 days in less than 100 sq. km..

Horrific though our losses may have been, in Germany, France and Britain the Great War wiped out a generation.

The German perspective, FWIW, was that strikes organized by Communists (largely jewish, unfortunately) in Kiel were the tipping point. Given the unrest at home, Berlin sued for peace.

As an aside, the fact that Jews fared better than average during the economic collapse from 1922 to 1923 was the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were. Regardless of the Magen David in German military cemeteries, the perception was "you guys sold us out in Kiel, and ate while we starved - there will be payback."

The lessons of history that we ignore will continue to bite us. We think we are being clever and novel, but we do the same thing and expect different results.


BSBD,

Winsor

[shropshire 0]

As horrible and Senseless as the war was, the death number for the almost concurrent Flu Pandemic was simply staggering... and it seldom discussed in school studies of the period.

We have the capacity to slaughter each other in large numbers but nature makes us look like amateurs at times.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome