[Magdalen] Veteran's Day

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Had I mentioned my asthma, they never would have let me back in after my
break in service.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 5:27 PM, Michael Bishop <rev at michaelbishop.name>
wrote:

> Armistice Day as it is called here was widely observed. One of our church
> schools came to church for a special service. The pupils (4yr-11yrs) led
> the service including the Remembrance itself. They gave a wonderful account
> of their understanding of remembrance, reading poems they had written
> explaining the meaning of the poppies which are worn for remembrance, and
> telling something of what they have learned of local people who served in
> WW1.
> One of the tales they referred to was that of the son of a vicar who had
> as a young child been a pupil at the school. Goderic Hodges grew up to be a
> ballonist on the western front - acting as a spotter for the artillery in
> particular. The mind boggles at the danger he faced! He was badly injured
> not when in his balloon, but when visiting the artillery battery for which
> he spotted. Whilst he was there it took a direct hit and he lost a leg.
> Later in the war he had a serious bout of flu and on recovery had to report
> for a medical inspection. After examining him, the following day Hodges
> received notice that he had been passed as A1 - fit for active service.
> When he replied to the MO that he had had a leg amputated, the response
> from the good doctor was "I only examined the upper part of your body - you
> should have told me that you had lost a leg!"
> Some medical examination!
>
> ....
> ....
> God bless
>
> Michael Bishop
> rev at michaelbishop.name
>
> Rector of Boylestone, Church Broughton, Dalbury, Longford, Long Lane,
> Sutton-on-the-Hill & Trusley
>
> Diocese of Derby, England
>
> On 11/11/2014 22:16, James Oppenheimer-Crawford wrote:
>
>> My wife's chapter of the DAR went to our local veteran's hospital and
>> visited. I came along as driver and vet, wore my desert storm cap.
>>
>> It was a truly good experience, if also heart-breaking.  A few of the vets
>> sat/lay unresponsive in their wheelchairs, and I tried to say a few words
>> to them anyway, thanking them for their service.  It's not so easy for me
>> nowadays to squat down, but I'm in so much better shape than these guys, I
>> had no reason to complain.
>>
>> A few of the guys were quite with it, and we sat and chatted a while.  I
>> think we all left with a feeling of wishing we could do more.
>>
>> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> *“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things
>> better
>> for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your
>> time
>> on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 10:20 AM, James Handsfield <
>> jhandsfield at icloud.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Greetings to all veterans in the pub and throughout the world.  This
>>> veteran thanks you for your service.
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------
>>> Education is its own reward, both for the individual and for society.
>>>
>>> Jim Handsfield
>>> jhandsfield at att.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
>