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What an utterly insulting thread, though from only one person who I formerly enjoyed reading from.
I lost a Great Uncle SOMEWHERE in a field in Ypres. Never found, probably never will. He went to war knowing what to expect. He was 17.
My Great Grandfather, Lt. Thomas Endymion Lewis (MM, Mentioned in Despatches, nominated for Croix de Guerre) was gassed in Belgium. The after effects of the mustard gas is what eventually killed him after serving YET AGAIN in WW2. He was seconded to train the Yanks in 1917, and it was whilst with them he was in an artillery barrage that ended up burying him under mud and dirt. If the Yanks were not so green and in need of leadership, and not dug him out, he would still be in that very field. He then went on to lead a machine gun battalion for the remainder of WW1, but then was in hospital in London for 2 years (came home 1920).
My maternal Grandfather, Kenneth Walter Powell, was in the attacks on Darwin (and WAS granted theatre pay and later a TPI Gold Card for this), the attacks on Townsville (that most people do not even KNOW about), and was at Milne Bay (he was repatriated to Darwin). He did 15 years ago due to complications from the Splenectomy performed after injuries at Milne Bay (he developed myeloproliferative disorder, due to his liver taking over the spleen duties for most his life etc as well as leukemia).
My paternal Grandfather was at Morotai at the end doing the mop up (he is the youngest of them all). He is still alive. I have his souvenir Katana he brought home with him (no glory story - he had a pair of binoculars, and the guy with the sword wanted to trade, so they did). When asked back in the 80's and 90's for people to consider handing the swords back to the Japanese families, his response, from a VERY clean mouthed devoutly religious person was "Yes, they can have it back - point first up their [flaming] arses!" (replace with flaming with the f word).
No Bert, perhaps we didn't have an army invade us like in Holland, but we damned near nearly did. You have to remember that MANY THOUSAND Aussies gave their lives up to fight for countries they were not even citizens of - Holland for one (interesting side point is the invasion of Holland took all of 7 days for the Germans to complete!!!!!!!). Our blood is all over Europe, and as the song - one you may be ignorantly unaware of - goes, "Australia will be there!".
Yes, the politics of war are grotesque. The sacrifices made can NEVER, EVER be diluted with such petty sentiment as yours.
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