Merry Christmas

[Wels 2]

Will be driving "home" today,

so Merry Christmas to all here !!

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

[Von Paulus 8]

Merry Christmas to all.

[Olham 164]

Euch allen und all Euren Lieben wünsche ich aus Berlin:

"Frohe Weihnachten und ein gesundes, glückliches 2012 !"

 

I wish all of you and all your loved ones from Berlin:

"Merry Christmas and a sound and happy 2012 !"

 

 

[Shiloh 12]

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

 

[NS13Jarhead 6]

Merry Christmas.

No matter where you are, people always find a way to pause and remember the holiday season. For example the Indonesian cooks made this reminder for us in the mess hall in Iraq in 2005. Not quite the Christmas truce of 1914, but it's the thought that counts.

[Morris 2]

To all that love OFF,

 

Merry Christmas,

 

May you all be loved and blessed by those closest to you. May we talk (OFF) WW1 aviation for many years to come.

 

 

 

Maurice Robertson

 

South Africa

Edited December 23, 2011 by Morris

[tranquillo 10]

Happy holidays to you all.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

"A Story for the Season"

 

 

1916: Christmas Eve at the Front. The War has dragged itself along on its steely, mud-caked claws for over two years, and the end seems no closer now than when it all began. At an RFC aerodrome not ten miles from the first line trenches, a group of airmen sit through the morning’s briefing, and prepare themselves for the day’s work. They are nearly all young men, at least in years. But with war comes age beyond a calendar’s mark, and one would find that each man is far older than first appearance would tell if a moment were taken to look into his eyes. As the meeting breaks the jovial banter can be heard amongst the group: the good-natured ribbing and warnings, the verbal jousting, the camaraderie and the closeness that bonds souls together in such tenuous and temporary times. Across the mud at a German aerodrome, a similar scene is being played out. The Jagdstaffel pilots there are also preparing themselves for the task at hand. To look at them, you might imagine they were schoolmates of their British counterparts, rather than enemies soon to be locked in mortal combat. For they too laugh and joke, and share that same bond. And they too are of the "old young".

 

The hour is at hand. On each side the signal is given and the small, fast scout planes skim along the cold, icy ground, and one by one lift into a winter sky as grey as the earth below. They form up, and after climbing to their prescribed altitudes, they head towards No Man’s Land and on to do their best; for King and Country; für Kaiser und Vaterland. They meet, and there is the initial gun pass as each sizes up the other. A few moments later and the aerial battle begins in earnest. To those in the fight it is a mind-numbing blur of action that runs in both accelerated and slow motion simultaneously. A split second given to pull the trigger as a plane zips across the sights: an eternity spent to try and twist out of the path of the bullets. An entire lifetime won or lost in less than an eye blink. To those on the ground it appears as a graceful ballet of the sky, the canvas-feathered birds turning and rolling and climbing and diving. But it is a dance to the death more often than not, and it will end when one or more has fallen.

 

And one has fallen. The long, slow, spiraling pirouette as the finale comes to the dance. The others have now tired and as if by mutual agreement or unseen signal the partners separate and turn away. The audience below does not understand how it can be over so quickly. They cannot see the fatigue and exhaustion of those in the air; cannot see their battered ships, or their bruised and aching bodies; or their tired, aging eyes. No, they can see none of these things, any more than the men in the air can see the pain or the agony endured by those who must fight on the ground. Each sees the other from afar, as through a glass darkly. It is an irony of war that in each case, either in the Sky or on the Earth, a man better understands and is more akin to the enemy he fights in his realm than to his own countrymen above or below.

 

 

Christmas Eve at the Front. Night has fallen and the pilots sit about the dinner table at their respective aerodromes, and talk of flying and fighting, and of family and friends. Wishes of the Season are shared, letters from home are read. Songs of hope are sung and toasts are made to fellow flyers, and to mothers and sweethearts. At one of the tables an empty chair stands in remembrance of the comrade lost that day, and to whom the final toast is made. He will be missed, and to a loved one back home he will forever be a young man with bright, happy eyes; forever a photograph, a memory of a life that could have been. It matters not which side he fought for. He was a man, a part of human kind, and with his passing we are all the lesser for it.

 

 

 

.

 

May you have safe and blessed holidays wherever you are, and may we each remember the true message of this season: Peace on earth, good will toward men.

 

 

Lou

 

 

 

.

[Wayfarer 5]

RAF_Louvert, that was a good story, very nicely put.

 

Merry Christmas to you all ... and an OFF2 New Year!

 

Wayfarer

[gaw 5]

back to you all..............thanks for the year!!! gaw

[Olham 164]

A fine tradition, Lou, and a fine sory! Thank you all for your good wishes.

Here is another tradition; the moving scene from the film about the WW1

Christmas Truce - it really happened.

Joyeux Noel - Frohe Weihnacht - Merry Christmas

 

.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Olham

[HumanDrone 4]

I just wanted to stop by and say Merry Christmas to everyone, and a special thanks to all those who make this possible. May you be blessed in your hearts and homes this Christmas, may the blood-bought peace and freedom we enjoy be all that more precious to us.

 

Thank you all for all you do, & best wishes for the New Year!

 

Tom

[DonL 0]

Merry Christmas to all!

Jarhead, I am glad you get to spend this Christmas safe and at home!

Wels and everyone else who is traveling this holiday drive safely.

Happy holidays to all and to all a good night.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

 

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

 

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

 

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

 

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

 

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

 

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

 

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

 

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

 

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

 

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

 

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

 

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

 

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Merry Christmas, everyone and let's hope for a Joyous P4 New Year!

 

[Hasse Wind 46]

Merry Christmas!

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Merry Christmas to you all....and thanks for making 2011 such fun!.... I have learned so much on so many subjects from you all...witty banter...great threads...and good friends!

 

 

"Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the House,

there was not a sound, not even a Mouse,

The new rig was here, Joystick and all...bad luck to all the Alb's that will fall...I'll sit in my chair...and light up my pipe....and dream of the day, I'll be flying my Snipe!

 

 

(Ok...so I'm a s**t poet!)

Edited December 24, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker

[Beanie 4]

Happy Christmas to all forum members, and to all serving armed forces members - safe journeys.

[Wombat 1]

My wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous, new year!

[Dej 17]

Merry Christmas ALL.

[themightysrc 5]

Just to add my best wishes to those expressed above.

 

Atheist though I am, I have no hesitation in celebrating Xmas, as it's one of the few things that appears to bring people together in this country. I've been wished a merry Xmas by so many people - christian, jewish, muslim and filthy sinners like me - that it would be churlish not to extend the cheer as far as we can, particularly given that 2012 is likely to be a bit of a rough year, one way or another.

 

So, everyone, enjoy this darkling period of the year, with its religious overtones and heathen undertones, reflect that the shortest day has come and gone, and remember that if the poor sods in the trenches in WWI could bring themselves to extend the hand of friendship to those charged with killing them, then you have no excuse to not extend a charitable and sympathetic hand to not just friends and family, but also to those worse off than yourself.

 

Peace.

Edited December 24, 2011 by themightysrc

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Just to add my best wishes to those expressed above.

 

Atheist though I am, I have no hesitation in celebrating Xmas, as it's one of the few things that appears to bring people together in this country. I've been wished a merry Xmas by so many people - christian, jewish, muslim and filthy sinners like me - that it would be churlish not to extend the cheer as far as we can, particularly given that 2012 is likely to be a bit of a rough year, one way or another.

 

So, everyone, enjoy this darkling period of the year, with its religious overtones and heathen undertones, reflect that the shortest day has come and gone, and remember that if the poor sods in the trenches in WWI could bring themselves to extend the hand of friendship to those charged with killing them, then you have no excuse to not extend a charitable and sympathetic hand to not just friends and family, but also to those worse off than yourself.

 

Peace.

 

Well said!

[carrick58 23]

Here, Here, :yes:

[itifonhom 6]

Merry Christmas everybody, take care of yourselves and your beloved, please, don´t drink and drive. And have a nice party!!!

[Javito1986 14]

Merry Christmas chums. Eat, drink eggnog and be merry. If she is able to drag me away long enough from TOR, which she probably will, I believe the missus and I will spend the day watching Christmas videos. By which I mean Firefly.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Merry Christmas to all you splendid old chaps... may you be warm and with your loved ones this evening and may you enjoy your day however you celebrate tomorrow. But in passing may you give silent thanks to those who are unable to do this this yuletide and to those who have given their all so we may enjoy Christmas...