The Fallen

[Wolster]

Originally Posted by Geek44

I feel I'm desensitized as well. There's not much that can shock me. But it's still possible. These pics are nothing to me. That's not to say I don't sympathise or understand that these were once living, feeling people...I'm not a psychopath, but the Buddhists teach that death is part of life...I kinda get that. I respected my mother, after she died I went to sit with her body and have a last talk with her. When I left the hospital, I cried on the kerb for five minutes in front of the whole world...then never looked back. Just me I s'pose.

I tend to agree with you Nick, death is a part of life, a shame it is the longest part.

[cyberia]

Originally Posted by Geek44

I feel I'm desensitized as well. There's not much that can shock me. But it's still possible. These pics are nothing to me. That's not to say I don't sympathise or understand that these were once living, feeling people...I'm not a psychopath, but the Buddhists teach that death is part of life...I kinda get that. I respected my mother, after she died I went to sit with her body and have a last talk with her. When I left the hospital, I cried on the kerb for five minutes in front of the whole world...then never looked back. Just me I s'pose.

I think like everything else, death is something we each view in our own perspective. And like all perspectives, they change over time or with circumstance.

Its interesting the thoughts these photos draw from us all.

[cyberia]

[Geek44]

Indeed Paul. When I look at these pics and others from the WW2 period, I often come back to the fact that the participants, dead or alive, were all too often, largely ignorant to the realities of the world. They had less opportunity to be informed or 'worldly' to put it another way. Of course we have the benefit of some pretty good hindsight but the attitude of young men (read boys) who volunteered for the Great War in this country is pertinent. Australia was so isolated...even until the mid 20th century. The military was a way to escape. A dull rural life or city job. A way to 'see the world' and experience 'adventure' the like of which they could only read or hear about. I wonder if the landings at Gallipoli shattered as many delusions as did Operation Torch for example. Another analogy. Written in the anthemic 'I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk In The Light Green) by Aussie band 'Redgum' about Vietnam;

'And the ANZAC legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears.
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real.'

When I was pretty young, I witnessed a young girl get totally smashed by a car. I was maybe ten years old. I never realised how freaked out I had been by the spectacle until I caught myself fretting every single time I saw somebody even look like they wanted to cross a road. That lasted for about five years. When I think, or try to imagine combat and war, I multiply what I saw that day by about one thousand and imagine it as being a relentless assault on my soul. These pictures are but the ghosts of the realities these people faced. There but for the grace of God go I. I'm not religious, but the saying expresses what I mean. Thanks for these pics Paul...they put my easy and comfortable life into the proper perspective.

[cyberia]

Just think, if not for some unknown solider with his little camera these images would not exist for any to ponder.

And they are just foot notes to much larger and tragic story.

[Pylon1357]

This is a very interesting topic. Not so much the photos, but the discussions and points of view the images have raised.

I spent 11 months reviewing every service file of IRrC soldiers who died during WW2. I must say I have seen some very disturbing things. For instance, can any of you imagine my feelings when I opened my uncles Service file and saw his Pay Book. It is kept in one of the breast pockets. It had blood on it....HIS BLOOD. Another file I opened the pay book was torn to pieces, this was the result of a Mortar training accident, the bomb went off in the tube.

Another file I looked at was for my father, he was curious about his cousin who was KIA with the GGHG. He was a tank driver. I read a very good description of his death in a book about the GGHG, so I knew what had happened to the fellow. This still did not prepare me for finding his pay book 1/2 burnt and torn up.

After seeing all this in the service records, I have a much better understanding of the pain and suffering these men went through so far from home.

I read a few comments about these young people going off to war for adventure and the chance to see the world. I suspect that NONE of these soldiers ever dreamed they not return home.

Now that my rant is over.... These photos, however very interesting and moving in their own right, simply do not give one the impression of the true pain and loss felt during the wars. If someone wants to get an idea of the true loss, look at a KIA service file. You will see medical reports if the fellow DOW, these are very graphic explanations of the injuries. Family information, which gives the soldier a sense of identity. Pay Books when recovered, will quite often be damaged or stained. But above all, the correspondence between the families at home and the DND. Many of the letters from families are full of pain and heart-ache.

I sum it up this was (maybe over simplified, however it my way) For the soldiers who died, the pain, suffering and terror are over, they are at rest. It is the living who have to carry with them the pain and suffering until they are laid to rest.

[Horch]

Originally Posted by cyberia

Just think, if not for some unknown solider with his little camera these images would not exist for any to ponder.

And they are just foot notes to much larger and tragic story.

Yea. I've wondered as much myself. And to think the camera and film survived all. Hopefully the one's who took the pictures fared as well.

[Jim O]

Thank you for reminding us Pylon1357. Each and every one of those boys and young men had a mother and a father, and other family, perhaps a wife or a girlfriend. Many of them suffered their loss for many, many years after.

[cyberia]

I second that Pylon. Thanks.

[Wustenfuchs]

Thanks Pylon, well said.