Lest we forget...Lions led by Donkeys!!

[shaunbhoy]

Anyway, I am over 6 foot, used to swim for Glasgow and run marathons. Do have asthma though.

Growing up on Arran, I don't blame you!!
Congrats on making it too, some of those currents could be treacherous. Must have built up your stamina!

[shaunbhoy]

Just to get this thread back on topic:

I've been to the Somme twice now, it's a very sobering place. Delville Wood and the Pals memorials near Railway Hollow particularly stick in my mind. Newfoundland Memorial Park is also worth a visit if you are ever in that neck of the woods...

Never been to the actual Somme Battlefields. However, a few years back, when returning from Eurodisney with the family, and having a few hours to kill before getting the ferry, we detoured around the Ypres area and visited a few cemeteries and battlefields.
It was February half-term week and bloody cold. In order to get the "full effect" of what it must have been like, I insisted on SB04 and SB05 (who would have been 12 and 11 at the time) getting out of the car with me and soaking up some of the atmosphere. Not sure they got the point I was trying to put across about "There but for the grace of God" and all that, but hey ho, if you can't impose a bit of perspective on your kids then where's the fun in being a father eh?

[DS23]

amongst my most treasured possesions are the effects of my great uncle who perished in one of the minor battles prior to the somme. he was a corporal in number 1 company of the princess pat's. his last post was being stationed in "the loop" which was a small semi circular trench on the very tip of the ypres salient. it was in effect the salient of the salient and a very dangerous place to be. more so on june 2nd 1916 than most other times - the germans launched an unexpectedly massive and long lasting bombardment from dawn. his legs were blown off and he died as the shells continued to fall. a couple of canadians crawled out of the loop under attack from german infantry flame throwers. it became known as the battle of mount sorrel or sanctuary wood and unlike the somme disaster the defenders were utterly overwhlemed. the canadians (and the pats in particular) were an exceptional fighting force though and they rallied and regained the lost ground (and more) shortly after.

it doesn't take much digging - i suspect we all have ancestors who perished in that war.

[minestrone]

it doesn't take much digging - i suspect we all have ancestors who perished in that war.

My mother had 8 uncles fighting in that war and only 2 came back. She told me that when I was 11 as we approached the tomb of the unknown Soldier underneath the Arc de Triomphe. A defining moment in my life.

One of the reasons why I so vigorously hate New Labour.