REPATRIATION

[Gil Boyd]

In light of the Argentinian Government recently digging up their UNKNOWN SOLDIER's in the Falkland Islands and carrying out DNA on each soldiers remains so they can be reunited with their loved ones, it is highly commendable and probably time the UK thought about that for the hundreds of lads that are buried in far flung countries who today descecrate the graves and clearly don't want anything Christian near them>

Watch this video from 1919 and see how the U.S Government tackled the problem, well done guys very moving............it needs no sound!!

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[Sunray]

"...time the UK thought about that..." That'd be astronomically expensive. Especially considering the numbers of troopies involved. And the number of countries that may or may not cooperate.

[CINDERS]

I understand about repatriating the fallen from WWI for bringing them home but on the other hand probably from an Aussie thing I would surmise if they had the choice that they would wish rather to be with their mates as they shared everything on the great adventure even death and to separate them now after so long seems rather sad as they may not have any relatives left alive in this country.
The lost diggers of Fromelles who were discovered a few years ago were all interred in a new grave yard and monument constructed specifically for them which I think is a fitting gesture I would leave them in peace.........

[mrclark303]

repatriation is a moot point isn't it. I remember having a long discussion (and more than a few beers) on the subject with a US Navy team in Hanoi back in the 90's. They were getting ready to head out with their Vietnamese counterparts to look for the remains of an MIA F105 pilot who went down in a very inaccessible area.

Huge resources and enormous effort were being put into this ... quite rightly so!

That said, I also take Ron's point that the WW1 fallen should be re-interned in the very smart and beautifully kept Commonwealth Cemeteries. The Allied WW1/2 enormous cemeteries in France are both extremely moving and very humbling, they should make every new Prime Minister and President tour them to fully understand the real cost of war.

[Gil Boyd]

Don't disagree with the lads staying with their mates where they fell, but what I do disagree with is lads staying where they are not welcome such as Maala Cemetery in Aden where the graves are continually being descecrated, and Benghazi where they have totally destroyed the cross of sacrifice and grave stones with sledge hammers.
Bring them home, its not a big job at all, they don't deserve that dishonour from the countries they liberated to allow these b****** to get away with it.

Twelve Islamic militants used sledgehammers and crowbars to smash graves of British war heroes in a mindless rampage in Aden, Yemen

British war graves in Libya desecrated by Islamist militants | World news | The Guardian

[CINDERS]

I concur with you Gil perhaps 75 years ago we should have let the Germans sort them.

I stood on the monument of BB-39 at Pearl in 1989 and can attest it is a very eerie, solemn and moving experience walking over her hulk to be faced with that marble wall so full of those poor souls who never had a chance a most horrid way to go.
My friend and I were on a self guide that day and apart from a few US citizens the rest were from lets just say not European decent which I found at that time rather bizarre that they would scurry around taking happy snaps of each other and I just wondered if they really knew or even cared about the significance of that memorial they were walking on.
I spent a fair while looking at the wall and then looking into the water at her dim shape and said a quite prayer I am not overly religious but I felt it was the right thing to do......
(Was turned off it by the exceedingly harsh way the Nuns treated us boarders)

[Gil Boyd]

Yes it is odd but commendable I suppose, why those whose nation was our enemy once, wants to come and gloat in the middle of their holiday at a ship their forefathers sunk!! Conversely, its good to talk to those who opposed you once for their perspective so we can all learn from it.............two hopes, Bob Hope and no hope!

[Merle]

Yes it is odd but commendable I suppose, why those whose nation was our enemy once, wants to come and gloat in the middle of their holiday at a ship their forefathers sunk!! Conversely, its good to talk to those who opposed you once for their perspective so we can all learn from it.............two hopes, Bob Hope and no hope!

Sinking that ship turned out to be VERY expensive for them, didn't it?

[bob4wd]

Cinders- I had the exact same feelings, except that I wanted to throw a few of them overboard! I was alive when that happened, didn’t really understand it then but learned more as the war progressed and I grew older.Being a child at that time probably accounts for my current interest in all things WW2.

I concur with you Gil perhaps 75 years ago we should have let the Germans sort them.

I stood on the monument of BB-39 at Pearl in 1989 and can attest it is a very eerie, solemn and moving experience walking over her hulk to be faced with that marble wall so full of those poor souls who never had a chance a most horrid way to go.
My friend and I were on a self guide that day and apart from a few US citizens the rest were from lets just say not European decent which I found at that time rather bizarre that they would scurry around taking happy snaps of each other and I just wondered if they really knew or even cared about the significance of that memorial they were walking on.
I spent a fair while looking at the wall and then looking into the water at her dim shape and said a quite prayer I am not overly religious but I felt it was the right thing to do......
(Was turned off it by the exceedingly harsh way the Nuns treated us boarders)

[Merle]

Cinders- I had the exact same feelings, except that I wanted to throw a few of them overboard! I was alive when that happened, didn’t really understand it then but learned more as the war progressed and I grew older.Being a child at that time probably accounts for my current interest in all things WW2.

I was on the other side of that coin when I visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, japan.....