Getting near that time of the year again, when we should all remember the real men that have laid down their lives for us all to live as free men. It reminds me of a story that was told to me a long time ago, about an old fellow, that arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and was faffin about in his bag for his passport. The lady on the desk, was very impatient and was saying to the old fellow, " Is this your first time in France?, if not, you should know that you should have your passport ready for inspection when you come to the desk", The old chap replied, " I didn’t need to show it the last time I was here" the woman replied, " Impossible, you English always have to show your passport, when you come here", the old fellow,replied, I came here on the 6th June 1944 and I couldn’t find a ■■■■■■■ Frenchman to show it to"
A friend told me tonight that he wasn’t going to the cenotaph, he would be back home before 9am. First of all I think he is just being controversial.
But he has impressed me now, he is going to take 20 poppies to the cemetery and place them on Melbourne folks graves, Melbourne folks who were killed in the war, when I say graves, there are not any, just a wooden notice with the names of those who didn’t come home.
There are 7 graves in the cemetery, those of soldiers who were killed by a stray bomb, 20 were killed fighting, 7 were killed in their barracks before they left the country
sapper:
Getting near that time of the year again, when we should all remember the real men that have laid down their lives for us all to live as free men. It reminds me of a story that was told to me a long time ago, about an old fellow, that arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and was faffin about in his bag for his passport. The lady on the desk, was very impatient and was saying to the old fellow, " Is this your first time in France?, if not, you should know that you should have your passport ready for inspection when you come to the desk", The old chap replied, " I didn’t need to show it the last time I was here" the woman replied, " Impossible, you English always have to show your passport, when you come here", the old fellow,replied, I came here on the 6th June 1944 and I couldn’t find a [zb] Frenchman to show it to"
sapper:
Getting near that time of the year again, when we should all remember the real men that have laid down their lives for us all to live as free men. It reminds me of a story that was told to me a long time ago, about an old fellow, that arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and was faffin about in his bag for his passport. The lady on the desk, was very impatient and was saying to the old fellow, " Is this your first time in France?, if not, you should know that you should have your passport ready for inspection when you come to the desk", The old chap replied, " I didn’t need to show it the last time I was here" the woman replied, " Impossible, you English always have to show your passport, when you come here", the old fellow,replied, I came here on the 6th June 1944 and I couldn’t find a [zb] Frenchman to show it to"
Sapper
Once a Sapper, always a Sapper.
We have similar story about Polish pilot who got lost while taxing after landed in big German airport with his light aircraft, some guys from big jet commented on air “bloody amateur who bought himself his toy plane, if he can’t find his way on airport, he should just fly around his corn field instead of coming with it to Germany”. The guy replied “I am sorry, this is in fact my first own plane, but I am not a newbie for long distance flights. I used to fly to Germany from England in their planes. But back then we never needed to land to drop our load”.
And then there’s the old bomber pilot now flying for British Airways who didn’t know his way around Frankfurt airport, on being quizzed by the german air traffic control asking if he’d been there before, he replied “Yes I’ve been here before, but it was dark, and we didn’t land,and you lot didn’t even talk to us in '45”
we have a very good friend who served in bomber command , did 32 over germany and then went to india . he will come to our house sunday morning to watch the service on tv , and then a bit of lunch and a nap . he’s 95 now so he doesn’t want to stand out in the cold at the cenotaph . he hates to be alone on remembrance day , it still upsets him . when i once asked him what his outstanding memories were he said " all those empty chairs at breakfast " .
rigsby:
we have a very good friend who served in bomber command , did 32 over germany and then went to india . he will come to our house sunday morning to watch the service on tv , and then a bit of lunch and a nap . he’s 95 now so he doesn’t want to stand out in the cold at the cenotaph . he hates to be alone on remembrance day , it still upsets him . when i once asked him what his outstanding memories were he said " all those empty chairs at breakfast " .
A sad and very poignant reminder of the enormous debt we owe to both the fallen and the guys and girls still “standing on the wall” right this moment.
I was once told a stroy of an old dutch woman stopped by the police in Aachenerland services…
The police pulled her over for driving too slow on the autobahn in a DAF variomatic and the young officer was trying to ticket her for it.
She didn’t (or wouldn’t) speak German, and his Dutch wasn’t very good so they both decided to speak English which is how the person who told me the story alegedly understood what was going on.
The woman wound her window down to the bear minimum and just kept saying ‘NO’ in the most venomous voice you’d ever hear.
After 10 minutes or so of this, the young police officer losing patience, decided he was bringing the woman in. The woman shot him an intense steely gaze and almost tasting the poison in her voice, she rolled up her sleeve to reveal some faded numbers on her arm and spat ‘I PAY GERMANY NOTHING!’ The policeman returned to his car with his head bowed and drove off.
I can’t vouch for the validity of the story, but it certainly made me think…