VE day

Victory in Europe day today
Let's try and look after the freedom they fought for and died for

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen' - welcome feedback and others' ideas. 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts' -believe in yourself and never give in.
....Winston Churchill

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

My dad flew in B-17s and B-24 Lancasters over N. Africa, Italy and was based in England for the bombing of Germany.
He was shot down and spent the night floating in the Med., was pulled rescued the next day.
He survived 25 missions over Germany when over 70% of those that flew missions over Germany went down. After leaving Germany he went back to the states and trained Army Air Corps recruits in high altitude flying.
All of this before reaching 28 years of age.
Like Baz says...that freedom is precocious in so many ways.
Embrace it with all you got.

Lineslinger said:

My dad flew in B-17s and Lancasters over N. Africa, Italy and was based in England for the bombing of Germany.
He was shot down and spent the night floating in the Med., was pulled rescued the next day.
He survived 25 missions over Germany when over 70% of those that flew missions over Germany went down. After leaving Germany he went back to the states and trained Army Air Corps recruits in high altitude flying.
All of this before reaching 28 years of age.

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Younger folk today have no worldly idea the sacrifices our forefathers made in the past to preserve our freedoms at the time....God bless your Father
I have some 1940's News papers that have page after page of photos of Kiwi servicemen either MIA wounded or KIA
Looking at them brings home the gravity of their sacrifice...and commitment

My friend Bob ( 1920-2015 ) near Berlin, 1945.

My father in May of 45 at the Eagles Nest. He was flight engineer on a transport full of officers that wanted to see Hitlers house. They were nice enough to allow the flight crew to see it too. Dad took a bottle of wine from the furthers stash and gave it to his father. Short payment since the nazi price had taken his son away for 5 years.

KiwiShane said:

Younger folk today have no worldly idea the sacrifices our forefathers made in the past to preserve our freedoms at the time....God bless your Father
I have some 1940's News papers that have page after page of photos of Kiwi servicemen either MIA wounded or KIA
Looking at them brings home the gravity of their sacrifice...and commitment

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Far too many of today's younger generations have been taught a very different perspective on the meaning of saving the planet.

The trouble with many liberals today is that they forget that liberalism requires fighting for (or at least the ability to do so when needed).

Fast Eddie said:

The trouble with many liberals today is that they forget that liberalism requires fighting for (or at least the ability to do so when needed).

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Agreed.
The latest stance or tactic in play, advocated and sometimes taught in our public schools and university's is to demand the cancellation of what they do not understand or agree with rather than research, study, interact or comprehend and then arrive at a compromised or mutual agreement.

NEVER FORGET: HUMAN SACRIFICE

World War II Casualties by Country

World War II was the largest and deadliest armed conflict in the history of mankind. Often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, World War II encircled the globe, forcing nearly every country on Earth to align with one of two massive military alliances: the Axis powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan; or the Allies, led by Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and China.

Between the start of the war in September 1939 and its end in August/September 1945, more than 100 million (and possibly as many as 300 million) combatants entered the fray. Many never returned. Precise casualty numbers for WWII are impossible to determine for most countries, whose stat-keeping capabilities faltered as nations rose and fell, borders changed, populations shifted, and vast numbers of soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or declared missing in action. That caveat aside, the most up-to-date estimates calculate that between 70 million and 85 people died in World War II. That estimate equates to roughly 3-3.7% of Earth's population at the time.

Surprisingly, more than twice as many civilians died in World War II than did members of the military. Current estimates place military deaths between 21 million and 25.5 million people. By comparison, civilian deaths include 29 million to 30.5 million from military and war crimes, plus another 19 million to 28 million due to war-related famine and/or disease.

Countries with the Highest Total Casualties in World War II:
The following countries have the highest estimated World War II casualties: the Soviet Union (20 to 27 million), China (15 to 20 million), Germany (6 to 7.4 million), Poland (5.9 to 6 million), Dutch East Indies/Indonesia (3 to 4 million), Japan (2.5 to 3.1 million), India (2.2 to 3 million), Yugoslavia (1 to 1.7 million), French Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, part of Vietnam) (1 to 2.2 million), and France (600,000).

The Soviet Union is estimated to have suffered the highest number of WWII casualties. As many as 27 million Soviets lost their lives, with as many as 11.4 million military deaths joined by up to 10 million civilian deaths due to military activity and an additional 8 million to 9 million deaths due to famine and disease. Those totals do not include the more than 14 million Soviet soldiers who were wounded during the war. Among the Soviet Union's 15 republics, Russia withstood the highest number of casualties, with 6,750,000 military deaths and 7,200,000 civilian deaths. Ukraine tallied the second-highest casualties, with 1,650,000 military deaths and 5,200,000 civilian deaths.

China is estimated to have endured the second-highest number of total casualties in WWII. As many as 20 million people died in China, including up to 3.75 million military deaths and 18.19 million civilian deaths. That said, because both China and the Soviet Union were wracked by famine and disease during the war, some experts believe the countries' civilian casualty numbers may be significantly underestimated.

Germany incurred the third-most casualties of World War II, with as many as 7.4 million total deaths Also of note is Poland, whose death toll includes an estimated 3.2 million Jewish civilians who died in Nazi concentration and death camps. The following list includes the total estimated casualties for every country involved in the war.

WAR & PEACE
The Irrationality of Human Motives

WW 1 "THE WAR TO END ALL WARS"
World War I was known as the “war to end all wars” because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict—the Treaty of Versailles of 1919—forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.

WW II
Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, marked as "Victory in Europe Day" by France, Britain and the United States. In Moscow it was already May 9, which became the Soviet Union's "Victory Day"

WW III.....We need Peace

Never forget Memorial Day Weekend

JUNE 6TH 1944....NEVER FORGET

With Respect...

"Democracy" sometimes/usually requires a Draft or worse Conscription ...this is where we are at now folks....
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"..."There are none so deaf as those who will not hear"....God Bless the fallen...

PAST PROVES PRESENT

My father would have been 111 years old this year, serving in the Pacific in WW2.
Far from the conflict in Europe but overall, no change, their sacrifice long forgotten.

It seems the freedom was soon ignored by the self intitled.