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SomeRelevantQuotations: “Old soldiers dream of old battles because, with the sliding of years, memory of terror fades and what remains is the fond recollection of intensified life, of moments so electric, so bursting that everything after is thin porridge.â€

Lawrence Sanders

“Some men go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently into a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been made to see all it may contain of perfidy, of violence, and of terror. Joseph Conrad

“I answered the call as I heard it" Nelson Bryant

“There is no greater feeling of exhilaration for a young man than to be shot at - to no result.â€

Winston Churchill

“The whole affair has the strong odor of Gallipoli - and we have the same coach on the bench.â€

(About the Anzio Beachhead. Reference is to Winston Churchill)

“There are not enough Huns anywhere to drive us off this beach.â€

Lt. Gen. John Lucas

“It was an introduction to adult life marked by outrunning death every day. It was the most selfless work I ever did. The experience was dreadful, sobering and maturing, but when you survived it, it was elevating.â€

Unknown

“As a result of my wartime experiences, I have always felt that I was living on time which I’d been given. What all of us have come to realize is that that really was the climax of our lives.â€

Unknown

“There is no loneliness to equal that of an Infantry soldier in a foreign country in wartime, separated from his home and loved ones by a continent and an ocean, with no hope of returning soon, if ever.†Russell W.Cloer

I love the Russell quote:

“There is no loneliness to equal that of an Infantry soldier in a foreign country in wartime, separated from his home and loved ones by a continent and an ocean, with no hope of returning soon, if ever.†Russell W.Cloer

This is good a place as any to post this. Maybe some have not read the entire speech. This is quoted from “The Faith of the American Soldier†by Stephen Mansfield, Penguin Group, 2005.

The St. Crispin’s Day Speech

[From Shakespeare’s “King Learâ€

Description of the Battle of Agincourt, 1415]

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made

And crowns for convoy put into his purse:

We would not die in that man’s company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.

And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,

But he’ll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

Familiar in his mouth as household words

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,

Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remember’d;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

This verse was quoted by a British officer just before landing on Normandy on 6 June 1944. It has been quoted by American troops in Somalia and Iran; before going into battle; and when lying to rest those they lost.

And bless ye all, ye band of brothers...