RESPECT.

[MAD]

Hoya!

I know I should have posted this yesterday but I did not go online.

I watched, like many people, the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of D-Day and my eyes grew damp.

It is quite superb to see all those veterans, who did risk their lives for people they did not even know, being that humble.

Despite all the stereotypes, all the stupidity and all the differences, it proved that SOMETIMES people can act as one to defend a noble cause.

So, this post is just my VERY humble way of saying "Thank you" to the ones, most often younger than I am now, who came to die on the shores of my country.

Respect.

Vive la France!
Vivent les Allies!

M A D

[KennyR]

On that day American, Canadian, Polish, British Empire, and other Allies stormed the beaches to free Europe from the two extremes of Nazism and Communism. Yes, that was an example of a just war, even if unjust things were done pursuing it.

I fear that these days the liberation of Europe is used too often to justify American expansionism, or to fire up jingoism. In fact, veterans are already angry at Bush for trying to compare Iraq to WW2.

[Methuselas]

KennyR wrote:

 In fact, veterans are already angry at Bush for trying to compare Iraq to WW2.

Speaking only for myself and being a veteran, it's hard to listen to a man who was and still is, a deserter. Iraq is war profiteering. When I was there in Desert Storm, we were fighting against a regime killing people who were 'different'. This is all about oil. It's no better than Vietnam.

[Morley]

What really surpised me about those old veterans, is that they really wanted their former german enemies to be there. It's been 60 years, but still, to forgive like that is purely an act that deserves a lot of respect. Hopefully the german survivers can join them sometime in the future to remember and honour their own losses. It's good to see that some scars and wounds heal. Good news for Europe.

Bad news for Bush. Stabilizing Iraq can't take 60 years. It needs to be done now...

[zudobug]

and other Allies

Yeah, lets not forget the contribution made by the Russians. Although it's easy to as no-one ever mentions it. It's thanks to the excellent D-Day coverage and the response from people who were actually there on the radio that I found out about this.

We tend to think of D-Day as a single event, 50,000 allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy. But there was other stuff going on in the east at the same time. Around 80% of the Nazi forces were fighting the Russians. The Russian death-toll was massive. For every allied soldier killed in the west, 20 Russians were killed in the east!

But they were also enemies and history was re-told. It's a good thing some people still remember what really happened and their stories are being told.

So here's to the other allies!

-zudo

long live the british soldies we sure kicked the germans asses much like amiga.orgs fellow posters should kick roland geigers ass

[KennyR]

Morley wrote:
What really surpised me about those old veterans, is that they really wanted their former german enemies to be there. It's been 60 years, but still, to forgive like that is purely an act that deserves a lot of respect.

Yes. Even more amazingly, I saw a documentary about ex-Waffen SS veterans meeting Russian soldiers in Russia to share a vodka and to celebrate old friends. Now, these people were the deadliest of enemies once, and at one point certainly would not have taken each other prisoner, except maybe to torture each other to death. But there they were, old men, laughing and joking, all ideologies and hatreds gone.

That's how people are. Tyrants and warmongers lie to the people, and make them fight. People don't make war by nature, only by following lies they think are righteous. Anyone who supports the war in Iraq has not learned from history. Democracy is failing if it allows people like Bush to profiteer on the suffering of others, just like Hitler and Stalin did.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Are we not forgetting the Russian soldiers who had to fight in harsh conditions?
Yes, I respect those soldiers, who were killing both guilty as well as innocent soldiers and civilians, to stop the viciousness against everything, to stop the repression.