11th Hour
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11th Hour
Today many of us will remember friends and relatives lost to war in far-away places. A time for reflection and quiet contemplation.
The Tiger remembers.
Mog
The Tiger remembers.
Mog
Gnome de PPRuNe
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Sitting having breakfast in a pub which looks out across the Biggin circuit several miles away - with luck a Spitfire may put in an appearance. Nice note on the door of the pub asking patrons to reflect for two minutes at 11am.
Thank you...
Thank you...
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Just stood out on the Parade Square at RAFC Cranwell for the parade - sombre, but a warm breeze blew through the lines and a smile came to my mouth remembering past times and good friends who are now lost to only a memory, but they will always remain as a memory so are never truly gone.
SMT
SMT
At Sunset today I shall sit by the fire...looking at the going down of the Sun....with a fine Whisky in hand....and think of times past and the many who served...and those I served with who have gone ahead of me.
This year shall be different as I will be going to the Army-Navy Football Game and will take a special moment at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
I have forty-four names to visit with....and remember....and see those smiles, hear the laughter, the special moments we shared, and ponder what might have been for them.
As well as the Men themselves I will also keep their loved ones who suffered such a loss close to my Heart as well.
War is a terrible thing....it levies such a terrible cost on us all.
This year shall be different as I will be going to the Army-Navy Football Game and will take a special moment at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
I have forty-four names to visit with....and remember....and see those smiles, hear the laughter, the special moments we shared, and ponder what might have been for them.
As well as the Men themselves I will also keep their loved ones who suffered such a loss close to my Heart as well.
War is a terrible thing....it levies such a terrible cost on us all.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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War is a terrible thing....it levies such a terrible cost on us all.
At the going down of the sun…
Sadly, sometimes the alternative is worse - the trick is knowing when (something our leaders aren't very good at)
Several years ago I was on a business trip to the UK around this time of year. I was unfamiliar with the poppy thing - kept wondering why I keep seeing them everywhere. Eventually I asked a local about it - and upon hearing the answer promptly purchasing one (I don't know if it's still the case, but at that time there were stands in the Underground selling them - for a pound IIRC). I wore it proudly - even when I got back home. Sadly it went missing somewhere along the line...
Several years ago I was on a business trip to the UK around this time of year. I was unfamiliar with the poppy thing - kept wondering why I keep seeing them everywhere. Eventually I asked a local about it - and upon hearing the answer promptly purchasing one (I don't know if it's still the case, but at that time there were stands in the Underground selling them - for a pound IIRC). I wore it proudly - even when I got back home. Sadly it went missing somewhere along the line...
Avoid imitations
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Coincidentally, just yesterday I chanced across a photo of the very aircraft that used to carry my name on its cowling. It was a sad sight because it was taken just after it had been crashed (thankfully a few years after my tour flying it).
It made me remember one of the best RAF friends I ever had who died in a crash in the same type. Then I recalled that I lost at least one colleague to aviation accidents for every year of my so called peacetime/Cold War service, some before I’d even finished training, including more good friends and better people than I. Three of them died on operations on my first wedding anniversary, a few weeks after I joined my first squadron. I always remember them on every anniversary. I realised from early on how fickle a business this aviation thing can be, especially military aviation, even when bullets and bombs aren’t being slung about.
I’m very fortunate that in almost half a century of aviation that despite a few near misses I didn’t actually suffer any accidents and was never the cause of aircraft damage apart from a minor blade tip strike found after we’d operated into a jungle landing site in a thunderstorm, picking up some people who desperately needed to be picked up and a minor “frange” of the frangible skid fairing of a Gazelle helicopter when my student tried to apply full aft cyclic instead of full collective during the final “cushion” of his engine off landing.
My thoughts are with all those many who were not so lucky, in peacetime and in war.
It made me remember one of the best RAF friends I ever had who died in a crash in the same type. Then I recalled that I lost at least one colleague to aviation accidents for every year of my so called peacetime/Cold War service, some before I’d even finished training, including more good friends and better people than I. Three of them died on operations on my first wedding anniversary, a few weeks after I joined my first squadron. I always remember them on every anniversary. I realised from early on how fickle a business this aviation thing can be, especially military aviation, even when bullets and bombs aren’t being slung about.
I’m very fortunate that in almost half a century of aviation that despite a few near misses I didn’t actually suffer any accidents and was never the cause of aircraft damage apart from a minor blade tip strike found after we’d operated into a jungle landing site in a thunderstorm, picking up some people who desperately needed to be picked up and a minor “frange” of the frangible skid fairing of a Gazelle helicopter when my student tried to apply full aft cyclic instead of full collective during the final “cushion” of his engine off landing.
My thoughts are with all those many who were not so lucky, in peacetime and in war.
Sadly, sometimes the alternative is worse - the trick is knowing when (something our leaders aren't very good at)
Several years ago I was on a business trip to the UK around this time of year. I was unfamiliar with the poppy thing - kept wondering why I keep seeing them everywhere. Eventually I asked a local about it - and upon hearing the answer promptly purchasing one (I don't know if it's still the case, but at that time there were stands in the Underground selling them - for a pound IIRC). I wore it proudly - even when I got back home. Sadly it went missing somewhere along the line...
Several years ago I was on a business trip to the UK around this time of year. I was unfamiliar with the poppy thing - kept wondering why I keep seeing them everywhere. Eventually I asked a local about it - and upon hearing the answer promptly purchasing one (I don't know if it's still the case, but at that time there were stands in the Underground selling them - for a pound IIRC). I wore it proudly - even when I got back home. Sadly it went missing somewhere along the line...
Traveling yesterday by train the train manager made an announcement at 10:55 and the train fell silent. And as we sat we passed an enormous school playing field with every team of kids (girls and boys) all lined up across the centre circle
V moving
V moving
