Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Day is held to commemorate the British and Commonwealth dead of two world wars and other conflicts around the world.  Since the end of the 2nd World War, British servicemen have been killed on active duty in every year, with the sole exception of 1968. 

In 1945, Remembrance Day was switched from Armistice Day to the nearest Sunday.  Once again, the annual National Service of Remembrance and the veterans’ march past will be held at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

The Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family will be in attendance alongside senior politicians, representatives from the individual Commonwealth countries, heads of the armed services, and chiefs from the merchant navy and emergency services.

The commemerative service will begin at 11am, with the playing of the Last Post and then the 2 minute silence.  Following that, the laying of wreaths will take place with the Queen beginning on behalf of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.  

Lest we forget!

Armistice Day

Today is Armistice Day.  At eleven o’clock this morning, millions are expected to pay tribute to those who died serving their country.  The two-minute silence will be held exactly 82 years after the Great War officially ended, on the ‘eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month’.  The Royal British Legion will mark the occasion by holding Silence in the Square, a memorial service at Trafalgar Square in London, and followed by the playing of Reveille by a sole bugler.

The Queen will also be attending a special service at Hyde Park Corner, in London.  There is a special dedication ceremony to a new memorial for those New Zealanders who lost their lives for the Dominion.  Helen Clark, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, will also be attending. 

This seems an appropriate time to remember all those, not just Britons, who chose to serve the United Kingdom at her times of need.  Not just those from the Dominions, who were tied by blood, but those who also had no such ties.  Those who saw the United Kingdom as a bastion of freedom, and were willing to serve with the British forces under a foreign flag.  Gurkhas from Nepal, Poles and Czechs from occupied Eastern Europe, Norwegians and Danes from occupied Scandinavia, Irishmen who were willing to put aside their differences with a bigger neighbour, and even the Americans (many who were veterans of previous fighting with Nazis and Fascists in Spain) who made up the Eagle Squadron in this country. 

To all those, whatever their nationality, who served this country at the times of our greatest need; thank you!   

Earth May Soon Be Under Alien Attack

Current blogger, and Pennsylvanian A-list celebrity author and entrepeneur, J.D. Peluzzi recently started his blogging career with his observations about Planet of the Apes, a 1970s sci-fi series that had primates controlling a post-Armageddon Earth.  Now, I must say that I’m far too young to have watched this particular series.  The first series to have attracted my attention, for obvious reasons, was Charlie’s Angels.  Still, I digress!

Anyway, when I heard some alarming news today I immediately thought of J.D.’s post, and what Maryland Mark had written about a previous possibility for a blog.  So, these two gentlemen, and the news that Labour spending cuts at the Ministry of Defence has left us open to possible attacks from extra-terrestrials, spurred me into print.

Nick Pope, who had managed the Ministry of Defence UFO Project from 1991 to 1994, resigned his post from the MoD Directorate of Defence Security this week.  Now, I didn’t know we had our own version of The X-Files operating in this country, but I immediately thought of the possibility that there could be a British Dana Scully running around out there, and she hadn’t had the good-fortune of making my acquaintance. Yet!!!  Still, I digress again. 

As I said in my bio, I do suffer from having  a rather vivid imagination. Back to the MOD UFO Project.  Cuts have seen the closure of this valuable department, with the staff now being utilised in releasing formerly classified material in answer to Freedom of Information requests from the media and/or members of the public. So, how does this affect the future of Earth?  This department had previously been responsible for investigating UFO sightings and unexplained phenomena.  Nick Pope claims that there had been a number of “highly credible” alien sightings and landings in the UK.  The closure of this department now means that the Earth could be wide open to alien attack.  Remember that “the truth is out there somewhere”! 

Anyway, live long and prosper. 

Hello World!

Hello, and welcome to my new blog site. I hope you find it of interest, and please feel free to add your comments on anything that I may write