11th hour, 11th day, 11th month ***1918***

flyinroom

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Aug 26, 2012
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Geez...
My intention was to post in "Off Topic".
Thanks Hlywud.
Perhaps it was a prescient mistake.
 

mofongoloco

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Feb 7, 2013
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and it should be celebrated on the 11th of november and not just be a proxy holiday to get the friday after thanksgiving off.
 

melphis

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Apr 18, 2013
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Thanks for letting this post stay here. If it wasn't for all those men who gave thier lives several years ago not many of us would be here now. In my opinion this is a day that should get a lot more attention in all countries that enjoy the freedoms and rights that we do.
Enjoy your Remembrance /Veteran's/ Armistice day.
 

Kipling333

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Jan 12, 2010
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it is one of the few times during the year when people can individually or jointly give thanks to the men and women who gave their lives in the srevice of the countries. It is to my mind more correct to celebrate the end of a war than the beginning of a war as is done here.
For me personally, I lost every male member on my mothers side in the trenches so I honour them today every year ...but many families lost many members in that war so I am not alone. Lest we Forget .
 

dulce

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Jan 1, 2002
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Of course I do thank the veterans that I know on Veteran's day.
I also take time to randomly thank them throughout the year.
Thank you to all the veterans on dr1 for your service.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Where I live in southern NJ, there are a lot of restaurants offering free meals to Vets on November 11th, a very nice gesture. Probably goes on all over the country.
 

dulce

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Jan 1, 2002
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Where I live in southern NJ, there are a lot of restaurants offering free meals to Vets on November 11th, a very nice gesture. Probably goes on all over the country.

The fuel oil delivery company that I use gives a 5 cent per gallon discount all year to veterans too.
I think it is great that businesses honor the vets.
 

AlterEgo

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Fascinating World War II Dutch naval escapade!

Sometimes in life, the guy with the drunken, so-crazy-it-just-might-work ideas hits one out of the park and saves the day. This is clearly what happened in 1942 aboard the HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen, the last Dutch warship standing after the Battle of the Java Sea.

Originally planning to escape to Australia with three other warships, the then-stranded minesweeper had to make the voyage alone and unprotected. The slow-moving vessel could only get up to about 15 knots and had very few guns, boasting only a single 3-inch gun and two Oerlikon 20 mm canons - making it a sitting duck for the Japanese bombers that circled above.
Knowing their only chance of survival was to make it to the Allies Down Under, the Crijnssen's 45 crew members frantically brainstormed ways to make the retreat undetected. The winning idea? Turn the ship into an island.

You can almost hear crazy-idea guy anticipating his shipmates' reluctance: "Now guys, just hear me outŠ" But lucky for him, the Abraham Crijnessen was strapped for time, resources and alternative means of escape, automatically making the island idea the best idea. Now it was time to put the plan into action.

The crew went ashore to nearby islands and cut down as many trees as they could lug back onto the deck. Then the timber was arranged to look like a jungle canopy, covering as much square footage as possible. Any leftover parts of the ship were painted to look like rocks and cliff faces - these guys weren't messing around.

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Now, a camouflaged ship in deep trouble is better than a completely exposed ship. But there was still the problem of the Japanese noticing a mysterious moving island and wondering what would happen if they shot at it. Because of this, the crew figured the best means of convincing the Axis powers that they were an island was to truly be an island: by not moving at all during daylight hours.

While the sun was up they would anchor the ship near other islands, then cover as much ocean as they could once night fell - praying the Japanese wouldn't notice a disappearing and reappearing island amongst the nearly 18,000 existing islands in Indonesia. And, as luck would have it, they didn't.

The Crijnssen managed to go undetected by Japanese planes and avoid the destroyer that sank the other Dutch warships, surviving the eight-day journey to Australia and reuniting with Allied forces.