In honor of Vetran's Day

[Newt]

US holiday today - honoring military vetrans. Not a major holiday but banks and government offices are closed and there are parades and suchlike. The following isn't real profound but I liked it. And the only reference that needs explanation is "Legion" which is short for American Legion - a nationwide vetrans's club with meeting hall and bar at all of them.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was getting old and paunchy

And his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion,

Telling stories of the past.

 

Of a war that he once fought in

And the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies;

They were heroes, every one.

 

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors

His tales became a joke,

All his buddies listened quietly

For they knew where of he spoke.

 

But we'll hear his tales no longer,

For ol' Bob has passed away,

And the world's a little poorer

For a Soldier died today.

 

He won't be mourned by many,

Just his children and his wife.

For he lived an ordinary,

Very quiet sort of life.

 

He held a job and raised a family,

Going quietly on his way;

And the world won't note his passing,

Though a Soldier died today.

 

When politicians leave this earth,

Their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing,

And proclaim that they were great.

 

Papers tell of their life stories

rom the time that they were young

But the passing of a Soldier

Goes unnoticed and unsung.

 

Is the greatest contribution

To the welfare of our land,

Some jerk who breaks his promise

And cons his fellow man?

 

Or the ordinary fellow

Who in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his country

And offers up his life?

 

The politician's stipend

And the style in which he lives,

Are often disproportionate,

To the service that he gives.

 

While the ordinary Soldier,

Who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal

And perhaps a pension, small.

 

It's so easy to forget them,

For it is so many times

That our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys,

Went to battle, but we know,

 

It is not the politicians

With their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom

That our country now enjoys.

 

Should you find yourself in danger,

With your enemies at hand,

Would you really want some cop-out,

With his ever waffling stand?

 

Or would you want a Soldier--

His home, his country, his kin,

Just a common Soldier,

Who would fight until the end.

 

He was just a common Soldier,

And his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us

We may need his like again.

 

For when countries are in conflict,

We find the Soldier's part

Is to clean up all the troubles

That the politicians start.

 

If we cannot do him honor

While he's here to hear the praise,

Then at least let's give him homage

At the ending of his days.

 

Perhaps just a simple headline

In the paper that might say:

"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING.

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

[Norrie]

Hi Newt, How do I lift the above and email it to my uncle in CA. That is if you dont mind.

 

Cheers

Norrie :cool:

[davidP]

Norrie

1) Create a blank mail addressed to your uncle.

2) Switch back to this Forum page.

3) Point the mouse at the top left of the text you want to copy

4) Click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse down to the bottom left of the text to be copied. When you reach the end let go of the left mouse button. All the text should now be highlighted.

5) Move the mouse over any part of the highlighted text and click the right mouse button - this should give you a short menu that included 'copy' as an option.

6) Drag the mouse to over the word 'copy' then click the mouse again. This should create a copy of the text on the clipboard (you won't see anything happen).

7) Go back to the blank mail you created

8) Right click the mouse in the space where you type the message. Another little menu should pop up this time with a 'paste' option available.

9) Click the mouse on 'paste' and you should see the text appear in the mail window.

10) Bask in the glow of a successfull copy

 

Alternatively, select the text using the mouse as detailed in 1) to 4) above, then simply press the <Ctrl>&<C> keys together (press the <Ctrl> key then hold it down whilst you press the <C> key). This has exactly the same effect as clicking 'copy' on the little menu. Now go to the mail window, click the mouse anywhere in the message box and press <Ctrl>&<V> in the same way as you did previously with the <C> key. This should have the same effect as selecting 'Paste' off the little menu. These are the fairly universal keyboard shortcuts for using the mouse to copy and paste.

 

Hope all that made sense

[Alan Taylor]

Newt:

."

Nice one Newt, that one gets printed out and pinned up in a classroom. Thanks.

Legion, no explanation needed, in the uk they have the Royal British Legion, I hope you can find the time to look for a link and see what they do for our ex service people.

The British not only commemorate there dead from wars but from so called police actions ie Aden, Cyprus, Northern Ireland etc etc.

If you see any British in your news programs at this time of the year (11-11) you will see that a lot of people are wearing a red poppy, that is the symbol for the RBL and is sold nation wide by volunteers to the general public.

 

Thanks again.

 

Alan(nl)

[Norrie]

David, What a clever chap you are. Thanks a million. You have made a boffin of me (in my old uncles eyes anyway).I did have a feeling of achievement when I did as you said. I owe you one .

Thanks again

Norrie

[Newt]

Norrie - be happy to have you pass this one along. Just wish I had a clue who originally wrote it to give them credit.

 

And for the benefit of any "mouse impared" folk on here (and some do have problems holding down the pointer while moving the mouse) you can also highlight the text by putting your pointer at the beginning, holding down the SHIFT key, and using the "down arrow" on the keyboard. Does the same thing.

 

And the CTRL-C is fine for putting a copy on your clipboard. To paste it, you can do a CTRL-V.

 

I frequently do copy-paste that way if I'm already on the keyboard and too lazy to move fingers to the mouse.

 

[ 11. November 2002, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[Paul_D]

Very poignant Newt. Unfortunately there may be more such fellows around in the future as I can't see a way out of the forthcoming mess in the Gulf. I also can see why it needs doing though........Catch 22.

[Norrie]

Hi Newt, thanks for that, I spoke to my uncle on the pc a short while ago and he says Hi and thanks from San Diego. :cool:

Tinka61 My son in law to be is home on leave from the RAF in Kuwait where he has been on "exercise" for 5months. and confined to the base since the Bali bombing.

Cheers

Norrie

[Vagabond]

Very moving Newt.

 

"For it's Tommy this and Tommy that,

and "Chuck him out, the brute"

but it's "Saviour of his country"

when the guns begin to shoot"

Rudyard Kipling.

[Adz]

Originally posted by Newt:

[QB]Just wish I had a clue who originally wrote it to give them credit.

 

http://uk.altavista.com/web/results?q=He+w...chy&kgs=1&kls=1

 

The first link is this:

 

http://www.ww2.org.uk/poem.html

 

Which reads:

 

"The Team received this email shortly after the poem was first published on this site:

 

I just noticed my father's poem JUST A COMMON SOLDIER, on your web site. The author is A. Lawrence Vaincourt, WW II RCAF veteran from Canada. He wrote this poem in 1985 for his newspaper column and it was reprinted in his 1991 book RHYMES AND REFLECTIONS."

 

Amazing the stuff you can find on the web... eh?