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#4448079 - 11/11/18 02:10 PM Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago  
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
RAF_Louvert Offline
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
RAF_Louvert  Offline
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
Senior Member

Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
.

When I was a kid there were still WWI veterans everywhere and any number of them would be more than willing to bend your ear and share their stories. Now they've all gone on to join their fallen compatriots, and with them those stories. Time marches on without a care for any of us my friends, so you best wrest what you can from the hour glass before your own sands run out.

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Attached Files WOFF_DID_German_EK_1c_Werner_Rendel_001.jpgWOFF_DID_German_GMMC_Werner_Rendel_001.jpgWOFF_DID_German_Ludwig_Order_Klaus_Raben.jpgKing Albert presentation 001.jpgWOFF_DID_Belgian_CdG_Cecil_Fawnsworth_001.jpgWOFF_DID_Belgian_OOC_Robert_Drummond_001.jpgWOFF_DID_Belgian_OOL_Oliver_Winningstad_001.jpgWOFF_DID_Belgian_OOL_Frederick_Abbott_001.jpgGerman Flag 1919 001.jpgWOFF_DID_German_BWB_Alois_Engel.jpgWOFF_DID_German_BWB_Werner_Rendel.jpgWOFF_DID_German_BWB_Albrecht_Schutzmeier.jpgWOFF_DID_German_SWB_Klaus_Raben.jpgBritish Flag 1919 001.jpg
#4448083 - 11/11/18 02:39 PM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: RAF_Louvert]  
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Nowi Offline
Member
Nowi  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Florida
We subscribed to LIFE magazine when I was a kid. I remember they ran a series for the 50th, I guess it started in 1964 when I was 12. American Heritage also came out with a big, illustrated book that I got for Christmas that year. And at that point, veterans of the Great War were in their 70s. Veterans of WWII today are older, or dead. The only two guys in my immediate family who fought in the war, both died, so there were no veterans I knew. My grandfathers had been too young, and too old for WWII.

It's weird that LIFE also ran a centennial series on the Civil War, when I was 10. That centennial of a war that occurred, at that point, a hundred years ago seemed so remote. And yet, here I am in my dotage celebrating the centennial of a war that I remember as a kid being not that remote at all.

When THE WORLD at WAR first ran on PBS in 1973, WWII had been over for 28 years. Now, when I watch episodes of The World at War, they are 45 years old, and their original airing is more remote than the war was when I first watched the series.

Time! Time! Time!


Nowi
#4448086 - 11/11/18 02:50 PM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: RAF_Louvert]  
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 192
Mr_Dirt Offline
Member
Mr_Dirt  Offline
Member

Joined: May 2012
Posts: 192
Missouri USA
Well said Lou as I get closer to the end I marvel at how fast my life has gone. I almost morn the fact there is so much more to learn from the people I have known in my life.
John

#4448103 - 11/11/18 04:20 PM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: Mr_Dirt]  
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 81
CodyCoyote Offline
Junior Member
CodyCoyote  Offline
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 81
I guess this makes me sound old, but I had an uncle that fought in WWI. I still remember the last time I saw him. He, my father and I all sat around his kitchen table discussing our various experiences. A WWI vet, WWII vet, and a Vietnam vet. That was in the late 1970's as I recall. My uncle was infantry. Somewhere I have a couple of old photos of him in France that he sent home. May he, my dad, and all the veterans who have gone before us rest in peace.

#4448109 - 11/11/18 04:50 PM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: RAF_Louvert]  
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,743
Hasse Offline
Member
Hasse  Offline
Member

Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,743
When the last veterans are gone, we lose the personal human connection to that period of time. It has already happened with the Great War, and will happen in a few years with the Second War.

When I was young, there were still people around who remembered the Great War. Now there are none. The Second War vets that I know are now getting very few in number and many of them are no longer fit enough to live on their own.

A few decades from the present day, and the events of both world wars will be nearly as remote and incomprehensible to most people as something which happened in the ancient or medieval world.

Tempus fugit!


"Upon my word I've had as much excitement on a car as in the air, especially since the R.F.C. have had women drivers."

James McCudden, Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps
#4448205 - 11/12/18 02:41 AM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: RAF_Louvert]  
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 214
Dark_Canuck Offline
Member
Dark_Canuck  Offline
Member

Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 214
Canada
This is why I am so greatful to have discovered this community. I have learned more (and be inspired to learn more) from the folks here than anywhere else I have been. I would love to be able to sit down with a soldier from the Great War and compare experiences.

#4448222 - 11/12/18 06:12 AM Re: Hard to imagine it was 100 years ago [Re: RAF_Louvert]  
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
CCIP Offline
Member
CCIP  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
Yeah, it was quite an eye-opener for me when I came across that interview with Tom Sopwith from 1984 recently, and realized I'd actually been alive at the same time as him - and for a number of years, too!
And World War I is such living history, still, with so much of what had been planted or culminated then still playing out in very real ways today. I was fortunate enough to grow up around many people and places where WWII had been a constant living memory - but I'm glad I've developed the same sense of immediacy with WWI over time as well. Really looking forward to being able to visit these battlefields soon and pay my respects.

Last edited by CCIP; 11/12/18 06:12 AM.

If you're having trim problems, I feel bad for you son
I got ninety-nine problems, but my pitch ain't one...

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