Remembering....

As usual today, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I shall be observing the two minute's silence in recognition of those who gave their lives so that we can enjoy life today and the freedom that their efforts and sacrifices have given us.

As I write this, it is with the hope that future generations will remember and respect all those who died - whether in the armed forces or civilians. We hear currently of the young men and women who are still having their lives taken from them or have sustained terrible injuries due to acts of war, and my heart goes out to them and those who are left behind.

Whilst I don't need a special day to remember them - I pay tribute to my father and Grandfather - neither of whom I knew. My father came over to England with the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada and was killed in action, in Italy, when I was nine month's old. He's buried in the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery in Italy.

And to my (maternal) Grandfather John; a member of the Home Guard who died as a result of his injuries sustained by a firearm a couple of years earlier and a month before my parents married. This must be typical of how hundreds of families were affected. So my thoughts are with those left behind as well as those who are no longer with us.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am a 1,000 winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sun on ripened grain
I am the gentle Autumn rain
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled light
I am the soft star that shines at night
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there, I did not die.

Anon.